


The new addition is not always a bad one

by Shaman_Witch



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, BAMF Commandos, BAMF Tony Stark, Howling commando Tony, M/M, Mentions of Bruce Banner - Freeform, Modern Era, POV Bucky Barnes, POV Tony Stark, mentions of Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, mentions of peggy carter - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 18:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8499886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaman_Witch/pseuds/Shaman_Witch
Summary: Steve stares at them with a tight smile. “Higher ups decided that we need technical support.”
Once the words register in, the protests starts flying here and there.
“Who? McCalister or Stellar?” Bucky asks, he doesn’t like it, but he understands why they need someone to fill in. It would be easier with one of these two since they occasionally worked with them  in the field. It would be the most logical step to make.
Steve looks away for a second, lips pressed, if possible, in even tighter  line and Bucky feels his stomach drop, that can’t be good.
“Neither.” He answers and before Bucky can ask who it is then, he  goes on. “It’s Stark.”
Morita chokes on his beer and Gabe almost spits his own.





	1. Chapter 1

There is a rustling announcing someone’s arrival and Bucky looks up from his book to see Steve standing in the entrance of their tent, expression pinched indicating he’s troubled by something. He puts the book away and stands up. The rest of the Howling Commandos stop whatever they’re doing and they focus on Steve instead.

Dugan puts down his cards and Jacques’ doing the same.“What is it, Cap?” Dugan asks before any of them have a chance. It must be something serious if Steve looks like death warmed him over, shoulders squared and full of tension. Knowing their chain of command the higher ups probably came up with some idiotic idea or a dangerous one or both.

Steve sighs. “Apparently we’re getting a new member.”

There’s a silence following this statement, everyone staring at Steve with questions written all over their faces.

Bucky frowns, they don’t need any more people in their squad. “Why?” Besides, it would upset the balance, they were like well-oiled machine, putting someone new would destroy it.

Steve steps in, he walks back and forth before he eventually sits on the empty chair by the table Dum Dum and Jacques were playing cards. “You remember the last few missions where we stumbled on HYDRA bases that were more advanced than anything we’ve seen before and because of our lack of knowledge with this thing we weren’t able to retrieve important data?”

They nod. Bucky grimaces because those missions were a total fiasco, it took them by surprise. They were able to free the captives held by those damn terrorists, but the information? It went to hell thanks to the precaution systems HYDRA installed in there. 

Steve stares at them with a tight smile. “Higher ups decided that we need technical support.”

Once the words register in, the protests starts flying here and there.

“Who? McCalister or Stellar?” Bucky asks, he doesn’t like it, but he understands why they need someone to fill in. It would be easier with one of these two since they occasionally worked with them  in the field. It would be the most logical step to make.

Steve looks away for a second, lips pressed, if possible, in even tighter line and Bucky feels his stomach drop, that can’t be good.

“Neither.” He answers and before Bucky can ask who it is then, he goes on. “It’s Stark.”

Morita chokes on his beer and Gabe almost spits his own.

“You can’t be serious!” Dugan stands up so abruptly, his chair falls down on the ground with a loud clank.

Steve shakes his head with resignation. “I wish it was the case.” Stark was just a boy shy of eighteen, with a silver spoon in his mouth his whole life, it wasn’t fair to send someone like that to the front. It didn’t matter that a lot of kids joined the army at the age of eighteen, but it was _Stark_ and Steve wasn’t sure what prompted Howard Stark to send his only child to the army.

“They want some rich brat on the frontlines? Did they lose their minds?!” Bucky says with a hiss.

He remembers when the news of the only son of Howard Stark joining the army went viral on the front. Soldiers wouldn’t admit it, but they’re first rate gossipers and that was a big news. He could understand, albeit reluctantly, why Stark senior would send his son to join the army. Stark Industries designed weapons they used and Howard worked closely with the military since the start but Bucky thought that, if anything, the young Stark would be put somewhere on the head base far away from the war zone.  And here they want to put some rich brat, that probably would wet his pants if he was caught in a crossfire, in their squad. Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous, that’s what it was.

“Why him? We have plenty specialists with technological knowledge and with combat skills more suited to the field than some kid that never set a foot in the war zone.” Jacques stands up and goes up to Steve.”Did you try to reason with those buffoons?”

“I did, but they didn’t budge on this, and no one on the field has that kind of knowledge. Stark may be 18 but he’s a genius. He’s the best when it comes to technology.” His shoulders sag with the admittance.

Everyone knew about the brilliance of Stark’s son.  Everyone also knew about the scandals and devil may care attitude that applied to the younger Stark. There’s no way he would survive here.

“It’s not a place for someone like him, Stevie! He’ll be nothing but liability!” Bucky can’t take it anymore, what were these higher ups thinking?!

“Good to know I’m welcomed in your little boyband.” Calls a voice from behind him.

Steve’s face clouds and there are hints of shame slowly crawling into his eyes. Bucky, on the other hand, spins around and is face to face with some short guy with a dark mess of a hair and impossibly big, doe-like, amber eyes. He gapes at him like a fish for a moment, trying to comprehend what he’s seeing and to be honest, it’s quite a sight.

“Cat got your tongue, or what?” The man snickers and Bucky realizes that this man is no one else but Tony Stark himself. He blinks a few times and looks him up and down and then frowns. Stark even if a bit on a scrawny side always looked larger than life on the TV. Something clenches in his guts.

“Stevie.” He turns to his friend completely ignoring the newcomer.

Steve quirks an eyebrow at him. “What is it, Buck?” He asks carefully. The rest of the commandos silent like they were waiting how it all unfolds.

“He’s tiny.” Which probably was the wrong thing to say because Bucky is suddenly on his back, his arms and legs immobilized by Stark. Blood thrums in his ears from the sudden clash with the hard ground, but he’s quite sure there is a stunned silence in the tent, indicating he’s not the only one that’s not so sure what the hell happened.

One second he was looking at Steve and in the next one he was lying on the ground, everything in a blink of an eye.

Big eyes stare down at him and Bucky stupidly notes the curtain of thick, long dark eyelashes surrounding them. “ ‘m not tiny.” Stark growls at him and Bucky feels a sudden wave of heat in his lower abdomen. He tries to move, but Stark is shockingly strong for someone with his posture.

After a moment that somehow feels like eternity Stark stands up not taking his eyes away from Bucky even for a second.

Dugan comes up to them and clasps a heavy hand on Stark shoulder, who doesn’t even flinch, which is a marvel of its own, and then Dum Dum huffs a laugh with that booming voice of his and soon enough everyone joins in, even Stark gives in and grins before he starts laughing, too.

Morita whistles. “Looks like we’ve got a feisty one!”

Steve shakes his head with fondness and then glances at Bucky. “You ok there?” There’s a glint in his eyes and Bucky wants to whack this idiot in the head.

“I’m fine.” He grunts while he heaves himself up, maybe Stark is not completely hopeless after all. That’s a good thing because that means they won’t be completely fucked up. He glances at their new squad mate and he’s caught by those big eyes. Stark smiles at him, eyes crinkling from laughing and Bucky notes with no small amount of dread that while Howling Commandos will most likely be fine as a whole with that new addition, Bucky, on the other hand, was absolutely duped.

Steve goes up to him and puts an arm around his shoulders in the usual camaraderie. “So I take it that  you’ll show our baby howling commando the ins and outs of our dynamics and what not, hmm?”

Steve, the little shit grins at him as if he forgot his own concerns about their new member, but apparently Tony Stark showing his badass side won those fuckers over. Bucky grunts something illegible as a response and Steve ruffles his hair, laughing. He sighs. It will be a long tour.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky feels confused when it comes to Stark. Howling commandos warm up to the new member awfully fast and Tony just shows a different side of awesome. And really, they just should stop underestimating him.

Bucky takes his sniper rifle in his hands with the utmost care and packs it into the bag. Steve’s doing the same with  the rest of the firearms.  You can say what you want,  but Stark Industries really made the best weapons out there. Hammer tech doesn’t hold a candle to them.

“Why are we doing this again?” He turns to Steve, who looks in contemplation at the pistol he’s holding before he packs it into the bag, too.

Steve glances at him from his bag, all serious captain mode on. “Tony as we could all see...” He grins, winking at Bucky, the punk.”Already has some hand to hand combat skills.”

Bucky still wasn’t able to figure out what happened that night Stark appeared in their tent. He remembers the impact with the ground, though, and the shiver runs down his spine at the memory. He wonders where Stark learned that and most importantly what for.

Steve continues unperturbed by Bucky inner turmoil. “And that’s good, but since he’s going on missions with us I need to make sure that he knows how to use guns and how to take care of them. He needs to be able to protect himself if we won’t be able to.”

Right, something clenches painfully in his chest at that. Stark, such a tiny little thing in the active war zone? The picture is all wrong and Bucky curses his overprotective side.

He sighs, It’s been two days since Stark joined them. There was something about him that didn’t quite add up with his public image, but Bucky couldn’t put his finger on what it was, yet.  His initial worries were blown up, not completely, though, about Stark ruining their dynamics. In fact, he fitted right in. But it was here on the base and in the field things can be much more different. Still, he smiles at the thought of how Dum Dum, the big softie, took to Stark almost instantly making him his new favorite. Which was hilarious, mind you, since Dugan is almost twice as big as Stark, but Bucky could learn from his mistakes so he wasn’t about to point it out.

He almost startles when Steve drops his hand on his shoulder. There is gleam to his eyes and a bit of a grin. “Care to share what’s occupying your mind so much, Buck?”

Bucky just glares, he knows what Steve’s playing at and he’s not going to give in. They enter their tent and Bucky spots Stark instantly. He is with Dum Dum, of course, he is. He’s gesticulating something wildly and Dugan laughs at whatever Stark is telling him.

Steve walks up to the table and puts the bag on it, Bucky’s doing the same.

“Tony!” Steve calls and Stark head whips around to look at them. “Come here for a sec.”

Stark grins. “Aye aye, Cap.”

He sashays his way up to them and that’s Stark from TV alright with his easy grin and sway of hips, Bucky really tries not to stare, but he’s not very successful, looking at how Steve smirks at him.  He elbows him in the ribs and laughs when Steve looks at him accusingly.

The rest of the squad comes along, Jacques and Gabe argue about this or that, Falsworth shakes his head at their antics and Dugan adjusts his ridiculous bowler hat, grinning at them.

Steve takes out the guns and lines them on the table. “Each member of my squad has a preferred gun. Bucky, for example, is our resident sniper, but he also uses the submachine gun and a pistol.” He crosses his arms over his chest nodding in Bucky direction.

Bucky waits for Steve to go on and say everybody’s weapon preference, but it doesn’t happen and he frowns at that.

Stark is silent, focus entirely on Steve, waiting for him to finish, but there is a look in his eyes Bucky doesn’t quite  know what to make of.

“Even if we have our weapon of choice, I require all of my squad to know how to use each of the guns and how to care for them.”

Stark looks up with a raised brow. So Bucky tips in.

“You know, cleaning and disassembling and reassembling it back together and such.”

Stark’s eyes crinkle in the corners and smirk finds its way to his lips.

“Bucky will show you how to do those things.” Steve looks at Bucky with that glint he has when he thinks he’s helping Bucky in any way and he really wants to kick his ass for that. Especially that this right here is his own tactic and that won’t do.

Stark mouth quirks. “You realize I’m a genius, right?”

Bucky snorts. Stark is arrogant alright, maybe he was mistaken after all.

Steve shrugs. “Sure, but being a genius doesn’t mean that you know  it all.”

Stark shakes his head with amusement. “I agree.” He says and Bucky wants to ask what his deal is then but Stark is faster.

“I made those.” He points at the guns.

Whatever Bucky wanted to say dies on his lips. Steve frowns.

“Well, yes. These are Stark Industries weapons, but…”

“No, you don’t understand.” Stark takes the sniper rifle into his hands and Bucky feels something warm inside at that. “I designed those and made the prototypes.” He pauses for a second.”By my own hands.” If it wasn’t already clear from his statement.

Jacques stomps his foot and shoots his hands up. “I call bullshit!” There’s plain disbelief in his voice. Everyone would react like that to the news that 18 years old guy basically made weapons for the military, weapons that saved their lives more than once.

Stark grins. “This beauty here.” He raises his arms where Bucky’s sniper rifle is snuggled into his chest. “Is M110 STARK enhanced sniper rifle, cartridge: 7.62×51mm, semi-automatic, muzzle velocity is 1400m/s and the firing range is 1800 meters but could be more depending on the skill of the one behind the scope.”

He points with the barrel to the submachine gun. “Who uses this one?”

Morita moves to Stark’s side with genuine interests and looking at how Morita likes to joke around Stark really picked his curiosity. Impressive, really.

“I do.” Then he looks up to Bucky. “Bucky and Falsworth use it, too.”

Stark nods. “Good choice. It’s MP5, Cartridge:  10mm Auto, it has Roller-delayed blowback and closed bolt, the rate of fire is 1200 rounds per minute, muzzle velocity is about 600 m/s and firing range is up to 500 meters.”

Bucky is almost impressed. A quick glance around him tells that the others are, too.

“Is that enough of an evidence?”

Falsworth frowns. “Well, SI made those so there is a chance that you would know the stats. Besides, isn’t Howard, the one that designs those things?”

Stark grimaced for a second and Bucky probably would miss it altogether if he didn’t look so closely at the man.

“Sure, Howard does that, but not on a scale he used to. I’m the unofficial head of the R&D department. The rifle was actually the first one I designed.”

Stark smiles at the firearm he’s holding like it was a treasure to be cherished. “I can take it apart and put it back faster than any of you can.” He looks like he’s thinking something over and then adds. “I probably would do that blindfolded and still be faster than most of you.”

Bucky would say that Stark is arrogant, but the statement wasn’t oozing with arrogance like Bucky expected, at least not much. Stark just stated a fact, a fact he believed in. “Cocky aren’t ya, Stark?” Bucky drawls and Stark just tilts his head to the side with a calculating look.

Morita grins and goes to his bed, he looks for something, rummaging through his things and then he comes back to them with a mischievous smile, he raises his hand up and Bucky notes the scarf, kefija was it?

“Morita, really?” Steve asks in his I’m-surrounded-by-children voice.

Stark just takes the scarf, turns and places it in front of Bucky’s nose.

“Go on, blindfold me and do it good, soldier,” Stark says with a charming smirk, but his eyes are serious and his tone underlined with just a hint of authoritative and challenge that makes things to Bucky he would deny to his dying breath.

“Bossy, isn’t he?” Gabe jabs and Dum Dum chuckles.

“Cap you should look at your back or someone will steal your leader position.” Falsworth shouts.

“Nah, but I could make him my second in command.”

Bucky clasps his hands over his heart. “Stevie! You wouldn’t!” He says with mock outrage and Steve just laughs.

Bucky rolls his eyes, but he takes the scarf.

Stark grins at him before he sits down by the table, rifle at the ready.”Do it tight.”

 Bucky shakes his head at the smug faces his squad makes and proceeds to cover Stark eyes. He knots the scarf on the back of his head and checks if everything is done the right way and then steps back.

Jacques starts making bets and the rest of the commandos join in readily. Bucky’s not surprised in the least.

Falsworth makes his bet and goes around Gabe to stand next to Dum Dum. He tilts his head, thinking about something. “No way he’s going to do that blindfolded.”

“You know that I can hear you, right?” Stark deadpans and Bucky snorts.

Steve looks around before he looks at Stark, “ready?” He asks. Dum Dum takes out his timer, the old little thing, to count the time.

Stark nods.

“Go.”

Stark moves so fast Bucky breath catches in his throat. Nimble fingers disassemble the rifle into parts with scary efficiency and speed and before he can even blink Stark starts to put it back together even faster until he puts it back on the table like nothing happened at all.

Dugan stops the timer and everyone goes to peek at the result, Bucky included. They stare at it, then at Stark still with his eyes covered, then back at the timer. Bucky’s mind goes completely blank for a moment, he blinks a few times, but the time doesn’t change.

“Well?” Stark asks.

Just like that, the magic is broken. Gabe and Falsworth whistle and Jacques starts to laugh a bit hysterically.

“Sweet Jesus,” Dugan exclaims in a whisper.

Steve apparently can’t find his words at all.

Bucky, on the other hand, is a little bit weak in the knees, he glances at Stark just in time to see him uncovering his face which is slightly flushed from the cloth. And Bucky kinda forgets his brain to mouth filter.

“That was awfully hot, doll.” He says breathlessly.

Stark winks at him, grinning from ear to ear.

“So you really made those?” Steve points to the firearms.

“Yup.” Stark looks awfully proud of himself, but there is something innocent to his happiness, Bucky notes.

Steve looks impressed as hell. “Well, do you know how to shoot?”

Stark stands up and rounds the table and then leans on it, he runs his fingers over each gun when he looks up, he’s smiling devilishly. “Of course, I made those. I would be a fool not to know how to use them.”

“Well, I’ll be damned!” Dum Dum and Falsworth slap Stark on the back and the man stumbles right under Gabe waiting arm. Jacques ruffles his hair and Stark squeaks indignantly, trying to free himself.

Steve laughs, happiness dripping from him in cascades.

Stark, Bucky decides, is an enigma, and he’s going to crack him sooner or later and to do that the closer observation was in order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments and kudos and everything, that really made my day :). As for the answer to your concerns about the continuation, I initially tagged that as a one-shot because I kinda lack the time lately and it felt like a safer option until I could continue this as you can see. Anyway, there'll definitely be more chapters in the future so stay tuned. 
> 
> And really I'm so happy you liked it. Thank you for reading it.


	3. Chapter 3

**“Bucky can you go and bring Tony? We’re going to include him in sparring sessions, but he apparently lost track of time.”** Steve shouts to him from across the field.

 **“And where is the little punk?”** Bucky shouts back and cringes, he looks over his shoulder to see if Stark isn’t lurking in the shadows ready to pounce on him for saying he’s small, but no one is there and he puffs out a relieved sigh. Steve looks exasperatedly at him a knowing smirk plastered to his face and Bucky knows that Steve knows and he just wants Earth to swallow him because this is really embarrassing.

 **“In tech area, he wanted to tinker with some machines.”** Steve grins at him and Bucky chuckles when  he and his leader get some nasty glares from other soldiers, but he doesn’t really care about that and apparently neither does Steve.

Bucky nods and a second later is on his way to the tent where army technicians work. He always liked that place, kind of reminded him of the sci-fi novels and movies he liked so much, Steve always teased him about it, but he was a sucker for sci-fi things as much as he was.

“Hey, Barnes!”

Bucky’s steps falter and he turns around. Just his luck to meet the person he hates with a passion and the day was so good so far. Rumlow smiles nastily and Bucky grimaces. This guy gave him creeps from the second he met him on his second tour, briefly worked with him before the Commandos. He hated how Rumlow didn’t care about his fellow soldiers, risking their lives if it meant saving his own skin. When Bucky was on his third tour, the news of dead soldiers under Rumlow command quickly overtook barracks. The entire squad except Rumlow wiped out by HYDRA. Bucky was on his fourth tour now and that incident still bothered him, something about it wasn’t right and the thought that he could be there made him sick.

“What do you want Rumlow?” He growls he needs to find Stark and not waste his time on this bastard.

Rumlow smirks his hands in front of him in a peace gesture. “Easy there, Barnes.” He tilts his head and it hackles every hair on Bucky’s body even more.

“I heard you got Stark in your squad.” Rumlow grins and his eyes darken and Bucky doesn’t like it one bit. “How it feels to have such useless squirt in your ranks?” There’s so much venom in his voice that Bucky is seriously surprised that no one died from being in the near vicinity of this guy.

The question itself, though, is meant to be offensive, show superiority, but Bucky can’t help himself and laughs taking Rumlow aback. “Appearance can be deceptive, Rumlow.”

Bucky shakes his head and turns around to go for Stark not wanting to waste any more time. If this idiot only knew what Stark is capable of. On the other hand, he would pay good money to see Stark beating Rumlow into the ground. That would be a sight. He looks over his shoulder to check if that bastard is following him but Rumlow is talking with one of the Colonels that must’ve caught him before he went after Bucky.

Bucky rounds the medical tent, takes few more steps and goes right in the tech area. It’s almost empty which is unusual. He spots Stellar by one of the tables working with one of the computers.

“Stellar, did you see Stark?”

Stellar looks up from his work. “He’s in the back, behind that curtain.” He nods in the general direction of the section separated from the rest of the tent.

“Thanks.”

Stellar shrugs and goes back to work.

Bucky  makes his way between worktables and various machines to the back of the tent.

He moves the curtain to the side. “Stark!” He calls and stops right there, hand still clutching the fabric. He blinks a few times, Stark didn’t hear him because of the huge headphones sitting on his head, but they weren’t the reason why Bucky stopped right here and there.

No wonder Stark was so strong at least one of the mysteries solved itself out. He watches entranced as Stark takes some engine from the floor and heaves it up, the muscle of his arms bulging out, and then he goes with the engine to the table across his work area and puts the piece of machinery on it. After he learned that the younger Stark was the one that built the weapons, _by his own hands_ , Bucky should have guessed that it applied to other things as well, but it really didn’t occur to him; he just couldn’t picture such a scrawny guy working with heavy equipment. Apparently what he took for scrawny turned out to be all wired muscles, not buff, but on the more slender side, still impressive though a beautiful and raw strength. He watches for a few more seconds before he goes up to the other man.

Before he has a chance to announce his entrance some other way, Stark turns to him, taking off his headphones and putting them on the table.

“Oh, it’s you Buckster.”

Bucky raises a brow at that, but doesn’t comment on it. “Steve’s looking for ya.”

Stark frowns, then his eyes go impossibly big and Bucky knows that’s the moment when the other man realized that he is long due to meet with Steve.

“Weeell, I kind of lost track of time?” He says sheepishly, scratching his head and making an even bigger mess of his hair.

“What are you even doing?” He looks at the engine  then spots some tiny things on the right side of the table. They…  look like flies.

Stark looks at whatever he’s looking at and grins. “These babies are mechanical flies or well mosquitos in this case.”

“What do they do?” He’s curious, he doesn’t think Stark would make something useless, so it has to have some purpose and really… mechanical mosquitos. He comes closer to the table and takes one up to take a closer look. It looks awfully realistic, the details are top notch.

Stark leans on the table, using the engine to put his elbow there for better leverage. “Scan the area, look for traps, can make a digital map of the place they’re released into, they also carry with them a neurotoxin that can paralyze the enemy if the situation calls for it.” He says nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders like it wasn’t a big deal.

Bucky looks up from the mosquito to glance at the other man. He’s sure that Stark is fucking with him, but one look at his serious face tells him otherwise. He looks at the tiny thing between his fingers and puts it down. Neurotoxin. _Right_. Still, he’s hella lot impressed. “That’s amazing.” There’s a bit more awe in his voice than he would have liked but it really was damn impressive.

Stark stares at him in silence, he frowns and squints at him, but then he takes a step back and there is a surprise on his face.

“But they’re not weapons. They’re just tiny robots.” He says, confused.

This time Bucky is the one that frowns. “Are you kidding? From what you’ve told me they’re quite badass. They’re like small and lethal scouts. Do you have any idea how helpful, they could be in the stealth missions? Heck in any kind of missions?” He takes Stark by his arms and shakes him giving away how excited he is. Stark blinks at him, completely dumbfounded.

“Ok. Buckaroo, It’s nice and all but I would appreciate if you stopped shaking me, I feel my brain knocking on the sides of my skull, like seriously.”

He stops and steps back not too far, though. “Right.” He squints. “Could you stop calling me this ridiculous nicknames?”

Stark shrugs, he looks up, thinking something over then he looks back at Bucky. “Nope.” He grins like a Cheshire cat and Bucky suddenly feels awfully irritated.

“Stark.” He growls.

The other man is in his face in a second, expression stormy. “Stark is my father. Stop calling me that and maybe I’ll reconsider not calling you ridiculous names Bucky-boo.” He pokes Bucky in the chest to get his point across. Stark frowns and pokes him again and then again and Bucky is suddenly kind of lost.

Stark looks up to glance at him and Bucky is overwhelmed with the height difference. _So tiny._ Still taller than Steve used to be, but with those big, Bambi-like eyes and messy hair, Stark seems so much smaller than Steve ever was. They stare at each other, Stark blinks at him owlishly and then the tips of his ears go red and Bucky’s stomach somersaults happily. He completely forgot what they were fighting for, to begin with.

“Cap.” Stark stutters out.

“What?”

Stark steps back awkwardly. “Sparring. Cap.”

Bucky sobers up immediately and clears his throat. “Right, come on then.”

Stark nods and they go out of the tent, saying their goodbyes to Stellar. Bucky stops right outside and glances at Stark and the man looks back at him curiously. Bucky thinks about why he’s so hung up on calling him Stark and not using his given name and he realizes that there’s no particular reason for it. Or maybe there is but Bucky’s not sure if he wants to think about it right now.

Stark sighs and starts walking not waiting for him.

“Tony.” It feels foreign on his tongue, but he could get used to it.

Stark stops in his track and turns to face him. “Huh… so it wasn’t so hard to call me by my name after all.” He smiles and Bucky is happy that he decided not to be a jerk about the whole name thing, especially that they are teammates now and they needed to trust each other, not built additional barriers, which Bucky can admit was kind of his fault.

“No more ridiculous nicknames, Tony.”

Tony grins and there is a spark in his eyes. “Sure thing Buckallo.”

This little punk! “Tony!” He shouts and tries to grab the other man by his arm, but Tony launches from his spot like a rocket launcher and runs ahead. Bucky goes after him, but Stark is fast. Other people look at them shaking their heads at their antics. Tony laughs before he disappears in the tent they use for an impromptu gym and sparring area. Bucky is hot on his heels.

He sees Tony running right at unsuspecting Steve.

“Caaap, help!”

Just as Steve turns around, Tony jumps on his back, laughing delightedly. To his credit, Steve doesn’t even flinch, but Bucky can see a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Save me from Buckling or he’ll eat me alive!” Tony howls and Dum Dum who’s standing nearby laughs.

Bucky stops, ready to give this punk a lesson when for the second time this day Rumlow appears from the crowd of soldiers standing on the left side of the tent. Great.

“Well, Rogers I thought that Stark is a wimp, but to run away from Barnes? Pathetic. So the Great Howling Commandos are reduced to babysitters. Enjoying your new job Rogers?” Rumlow smirks and Bucky wants to wipe it straight from his dumb face.

All of the Commandos stand straighter, any tracks of amusement gone from their faces a contrast to other soldiers that are laughing and snickering under their noses like a bunch of frat boys.

Falsworth and Jacques step closer to Rumlow, for sure thinking about punching him in the face just like Bucky does. They don’t go far. Tony jumps from Steve’s back and goes to stand face to face with Rumlow.

“I don’t care if you have shit to say about me, but don’t you dare insult, Cap!” He snarls.

Rumlow whistles and turns to the other soldiers. “Did you see that? The Chihuahua is barking at me!” He laughs and others do the same.

“He’s so dead,” Bucky says under his nose.

Dugan, who is closest to him nods. “He so is.”

Bucky looks at Tony, he looks like a barely restrained attack dog alright, but definitely not like a Chihuahua; if only Rumlow knew what he got himself into.

Rumlow glances at Steve. “Piece of advice Rogers. You better leave this ballast somewhere in the desert or you’ll all die.”

Steve’s look hardens. He comes closer to Tony and clasps a hand on his shoulder. “Watch, your words Rumlow. He’s worth hundreds of the ones like you.”

“This little piece of shit? Don’t make me laugh, Rogers. I thought you’re smarter than that.”

“Rumlow…”  Steve starts just as Tony calls him.

“Cap.”

He looks down to meet big, brown eyes full of determination.

“I want to spar with him.”

Rumlow and the rest of the people in the tent burst out laughing but he ignores them.

“Sure, why not. I’ll show where your place is.” Rumlow says and Bucky can’t wait to see the shock and realization hit this bastard when Tony kicks his ass to the ground.

“Captain.” There is urgency in Tony’s voice a barely hidden restraint.

Steve nods and Tony grins wickedly. Bucky feels a shiver run down his spine.

“Rumlow is a dead man walking now,” Morita says and the rest of the Commandos hum in agreement.

“You’re dead, Stark,” Rumlow says and goes to the sparring area. He stands at the center of the mats.

Tony shakes off his uniform jacket he put when they left the tech tent.  Steve raises his brows, surprised and Bucky can’t really blame him.

Tony goes up to Rumlow and stops before stepping on the mats. He gives them scrutinizing look.

“Not here.” He nods to the foam pads covering part of the ground. “There.” He points to the area with the hard ground and nothing to amortize the eventual impact.

Rumlow shrugs. “It’s your funeral.”

They go to stand on the spot Stark pointed and the rest of the soldiers round them up, Commandos included.

The bets start going on and Tony rolls his eyes.

Everyone bets at Rumlow. No surprise there.

“500 on Stark.” Bucky shouts and the tent goes completely silent and then erupts in laughter, almost hysterical one. Dugan shares a grin with him and the other Commandos bet on Tony, too.

Tony looks  surprised, but he smiles gratefully, it’s short lived though and Bucky wonders why.

Once the bets are on, one of the soldiers, McGregor was it? Steps to the front.

“The usual rules: don’t go for permanent damage, no holds barred, no dirty tricks, no time limit.”

Tony and Rumlow nod.

Rumlow smirks and Bucky knows that he’s not going to go by the first rule at all. One look at Tony tells him that he’s aware of that, too.

McGregor steps back. “Ready. Go.”

Rumlow launch forward with jab straight at Tony’s face, but he dodges it easily, there’s a glint in his eyes and Bucky knows that the fight will be one that none of them will be able to forget for a long time.

Rumlow stops and looks askance at Tony. Stark keeps his distance and Rumlow attacks again, this time he strikes with a left hook that doesn’t reach its target. Rumlow frowns and it’s clear he starts to lose patience. He dives at Tony and attacks him with a few jabs in quick succession, Tony avoids every one of them with ease and Bucky wonders why Tony didn’t attack yet. The soldiers standing around the impromptu ring shout names and are booing at Tony. Others chant Rumlow name.

“Stark you coward!” Someone from the crowd shouts.

Tony is anything but.

Steve shakes his head in disapproval for whoever shouted that. “Idiot.”

Bucky nods.

“They’re damn dumbasses and blind ones at that, too. It’s a wonder they survived so long in the army.” Dugan says and he really hit the nail on the head with this.

Bucky comes back to observing the fight. Something in Tony posture changed, shoulders a bit more squared and the look in his eyes sharper. Rumlow goes at Tony with punches and roundhouse Kick. Bucky remembers when Rumlow used it on him in a sparring session, so long ago, and it hurt like a bitch then. Rumlow has really strong legs, he could give him that. Tony ducks to the side and rounds Rumlow to stand behind him. He dodges the elbow, which Rumlow tried to serve him in the jaw and the few punches that followed. Tony tracks every movement of his opponent, dodging the hail of punches and Bucky knows why Tony didn’t attack yet. He analyzed Rumlow, the way he fought and apparently he got all the data he needed.

Tony moves one of his legs further back for better balance and bends his knees a little. He looks like a wild animal, a very dangerous one, and Bucky wonders again where someone like Tony Stark learned something like that and why he learned how to fight at all.

Tony zeroes his sight on Rumlow and when the man attacks again, Tony instead of dodging, blocks the strike and every single one that comes next. Rumlow growls under his nose and the people in the tent go completely silent.

Take that! Bucky thinks.

Rumlow jumps back and levels Tony with a glare. Something in Stark posture slightly changes again and wherever he learned how to fight, it wasn’t self-defense type of lessons. His whole body screamed survival and Bucky swallows a sudden bile in his throat. Whoever was the person that taught Tony how to fight, wanted to prepare him for death or life situations.

Steve glances at him and from his expression Bucky knows that he came to the same conclusion.

Rumlow’s face contorts in anger and he strikes again, even fiercer  this time. He grabs Tony by his t-shirt.  Stark tries to shake him off, to break away, but Rumlow holds on strongly. The only sound in otherwise silent tent is the sound of ripped fabric.

“What the fuck Rumlow?!” One of the soldiers shouts and others start shouting, too. Rumlow ignores them like he didn’t hear them at all.

Still holding Tony by his tee he manages to hit him in the face and then kicks him in the ribs. Tony grimaces in pain, but he grins soon after and the next punch Rumlow sends his way is stopped. Tony catches Rumlow fist with his palm, his body tightens ready to attack and before Rumlow can do anything, too surprised, Tony kicks him in the stomach. Rumlow staggers back with a grunt and this time Tony is the one that jumps to him and strikes few times, which in contrast to Rumlow ones, reach their target perfectly. Looking at Rumlow shocked face and the grimace that follows soon after, the man didn’t expect such power behind those punches.

Tony is fast, he attacks hard and with precision.

Rumlow sinks to his knees in a matter of seconds, bloody and humiliated.

Bucky smiles, he feels hot and breathless. He feels the victory in his mouth like he was the one to beat Rumlow to the ground. This, though, is so much better.

Tony grins and looks to his teammates and because of that he doesn’t see when Rumlow heaves himself up, pulling a knife out of his right boot. Someone shouts Rumlow’s name in alarm and disbelieve.

Tony steps back, fear flickers through his eyes, but it disappears replaced by anger when Rumlow strikes him across the face. Bucky runs to help Tony but Steve keeps him in place. He looks sharply at his captain, blood thrumming in his ears, heart pounding like a frightened rabbit. He’s met with knitted eyebrows, hard look, and lips in a tight line. Steve is mad. Bucky doesn’t understand why is there a hand on his chest then. The hand that stops him from helping his teammate. Bucky looks around, but no one moves, nor the Howling Commandos nor the other soldiers and when he glances at Tony, at his relaxed and composed frame, rage under control, Bucky knows why.

“What Stark? You’re scared of a small blade?” Rumlow snarls and doesn’t wait for the answer. He charges right at Tony, eyes glowing with madness. He goes for Tony’s face again and Bucky heart stops for a second, but Tony tilts his head to the side. He catches Rumlow’s wrist and uses his hand like a lever, then he spins around behind him twisting his arm to his back. Tony jumps from the ground using Rumlow shoulder for leverage and somehow he jams his legs around Rumlow throat. The force behind the move sends them 180 over. Rumlow lands with a hard thud on his back, Tony lands in a half crouch, Rumlow’s knife in his left hand. There is a collective gasp and Bucky’s not sure what the hell happened.

Rumlow is lying unconscious on the ground and Tony stands over him. The disgust in his eyes says more than a thousand words. He throws the knife to the center of the makeshift ring, a few meters away from Rumlow and goes to the Commandos. Bucky shakes off Steve’s hand and jumps to Tony to look him over.

Excited shouts erupt in the tent and before anyone can get close to Tony Bucky takes his hand and leads him outside the rest of the Commandos flank them up.

“Who the fuck taught you that?!” Gabe whispers with incredulity and Bucky admits to himself that the same question eats him up, too.

Tony laughs. “My aunt. Peggy. She taught me the basic self-defense when I was a kid. She did it in secret from my father. Just for going against Howard she takes in my book the first place for the best woman in the world.” Tony smiles happily and that aunt Peggy person really must be something Bucky decides. “The rest I learned from her protégé, well she wasn’t her protégé at the time, though.” He shrugs. “I was at my second year at MIT. That girl disliked me for some reason, but since I couldn’t stand bullies, and vice versa, I often got myself into trouble.”

Steve and Bucky exchange a look over Tony’s shoulder.

“One day this nerdy guy was attacked by a group of upperclassmen so I went to help him, but even with aunt Peggy training seven, big guys, were a bit too much for me. Turned out that this guy I helped was friends with aunt Peggy soon to be protégé. The word went into the ether, then I was kidnapped…” Tony's breath catches, his eyes going wide for a split of a second but he eventually continues, too late to cover that bit of information up.

 _Kidnapped?!_ Bucky sucks in a sharp breath and the rest of the Commandos look shocked as well. They shouldn’t have, though. If  you think logically about who Tony’s father is but still, it didn’t cross their minds at all. They don’t say anything, though.

“And when I came back, Tasha started training me. She was damn scary let me tell you that and friggin amazing, too. We became friends, the guy I tried to help is now my science bro. There’s also Clint, Tasha best buddy. He’s the best when it comes to prank wars." Blood drips from Tony's chin straight at his ruined t-shirt but he doesn't seem to care. "Of course, there is also my best friend that is now in the Air Force, he taught me a few handy things, too.”

“That’s damn impressive.” Gabe stutters.

Tony just smiles cheekily in return.

When they finally reach their tent Bucky looks to Steve and he nods so Bucky takes Tony to the side and leads him to his bed. He shoves him lightly to sit on it. “Don’t move, I need to clean this cut.”

Tony rolls his eyes. “It’s just a scratch.” He deadpans and Bucky shakes his head.

“Shuddup.” Bucky grunts.

Tony salutes him. “Yes, sir.”

“Looks like someone entered his mother hen mode.” Dugan offhandedly says and Steve laughs at that.

“That brings some annoyingly good memories.” Steve murmurs.

Bucky ignores them. He takes the first aid kit and starts cleaning Tony’s face. Then he disinfects the wound on his nose. The cut really is not that big and Bucky breathes with relief. He looks at the wound in thought and goes to his backpack lying at the foot of his bed. He takes out a small box and then takes one of the band aids from it.

Tony blinks, looking at the band aid, then at him like he suddenly grew a second head.

“A Star Wars band aid? Really?”

Bucky flushes slightly.

“Don’t mind him, Buck is a big sci-fi nerd!”

“Steve!” He hisses, but when he looks at Tony ready to be laughed at, he’s met with a stare full of wonder and newfound admiration.

Tony grins adorably. “Marry me!”

Bucky chokes on air and Commandos howl a laugh.

He’s really not gonna survive this tour with Tony in their squad, he really was absolutely screwed, especially when he risks a glance into those expressive eyes. _So screwed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need a mentor who will teach me how to write fighting scenes because it turns out they're really hard to write at least for me.
> 
> Also, I'm kind of running a fever (caught a nasty cold) and I hope that it didn't affect the chapter much but it probably did. If you see some strange sentences or something I would be glad for pointing it out for me.
> 
> And really thank you for reading :)


	4. Chapter 4

Bucky wages his options, he looks around the tech area and after a moment of hesitation, he moves the curtain and goes in. Tony is obscured by some machines lying on the worktable so Bucky goes around it. He smiles when he sees Tony’s hunched back; headphones, of course, sitting on his head. Bucky considers for a moment if he should scare him, he smirks in delight, but then he remembers what Tony is capable of and decides against it. Instead, he leans his hip on the table and observes. Tony is humming, his knee jerking to the tact and his fingers moving fast on the keyboard. His army jacket hangs loosely from the chair so Bucky has a perfectly good view of Tony’s neck and arms, really strong arms from what he had gathered already. He’s still not sure how he missed that, at least he wasn’t the only one. The look on Steve's face, when Tony took off his jacket, before the fight with Rumlow, was priceless.

 He shakes his head at the memory and looks around the area, he smiles in amusement at the chaos. Parts are lying on the ground and tables, half finished machines of some kind and engines under one of the work tables. Nothing has its place here, but it feels right somehow.

In all honesty, he wouldn’t come here, he didn’t want to interrupt Tony, but he wanted to hide. Howling Commandos got a bit antsy and restless. It was almost two weeks since their last mission and the lack of action slowly got on their nerves, at least Tony joined them recently so they could focus on something else for the time being which unfortunately came to an end. So hiding it was and maybe, just maybe he wanted to see Tony.

He looks back at the man. He’s typing something furiously. It’s fascinating really, to observe him and Bucky curses his stupidity for not realizing this sooner, preferably before he judged Tony upon the information fed to him by the TV. He’s happy that Tony didn’t hold grudge against him for long, but that only added to Bucky despair because he was completely swayed by the younger man.

He squirms a bit to find a better position. He debates whenever he should interrupt Tony after all or not, but looking at this buzzing energy surrounding him made Bucky somehow content as it is. He sighs after a moment and decides to let Tony know he’s here.

Tony suddenly stops whatever he’s doing. “Hey there Bucky-o.” He says without turning and Bucky opens his mouth in a surprise.

Tony puts the headphones on the table and turns to him with a huge grin.

“How did you know it’s me?”

Tony shrugs and points to the curtain. Bucky follows the direction, but after staring at the piece of cloth for few seconds he’s not sure what he supposed to look at and looks back at Tony completely lost.

Tony smiles indulgently. “I installed move detectors  there so whenever someone moves the curtain, to take a peek inside or come in, I know it.”

Bucky nods slowly but it still doesn’t answer his question. “Right, but you always have your headphones on, so how?”

“That’s why I installed these there in the first place. The detectors are connected to my headphones specifically.”

Bucky opens his mouth, but Tony waves him to stop.

“Once I know someone’s in, I peek on the first reflective surface and BAM I know who’s here.” He grins and Bucky answers with one of his own.

“That’s amazing.”

“Nah… it’ll be amazing if it’ll signal me who’s coming in so I wouldn’t have to look.”

 Bucky shakes his head. For someone who is so sure of his skills, Tony can be awfully self-deprecating at times. He has a suspicion why it's like that in the first place and he doesn’t like it. He swears to himself that he’ll try to change this one day if the opportunity arises.

He crosses his arms on his chest when the computer screen where Tony was working on something catches his eye. After a closer inspection, he sees lines upon lines of code.  He knows a thing or two about machines, about the physical side of things, but the programming and stuff like that were way out of his league. “What’s that?”

Tony if possible grins even wider. “That my dear Buckling is the makings of an AI.”

Bucky frowns. “AI as in…”

“Artificial Intelligence.” Tony finishes for him.

That actually makes Bucky stop to think because that some serious sci-fi thing and he’s not sure if Tony isn’t pulling his leg on this one. “Can you really make one?” He asks carefully.

“I already made one... somewhat. This one is going to be more advanced, though.” Tony scratches his head and Bucky notices that he has a bit of oil on the side of his face going down to his neck. He still has the Star Wars band aid on his nose and Bucky grins because Tony wears it like a crown, proud and mighty and really it’s kind of adorable.

“Wait a moment did you say that you already made one?”

Tony snorts. “Yes, I already made one but DUM-E is well... Dummy.”

Right, because that tells Bucky much. "Why AI, though?"

“Because it’s an AI. It’s pretty damn amazing."

Bucky’s not sure how but he can tell that Tony isn’t completely honest with him. He looks closer and Tony holds his stare until he sighs resignedly.

“Your face screams ‘bullshit’ at me, you know.”

Bucky can’t hold the smirk that creeps on his face. He starts to think it’s impossible not to smile in one form or another in Tony’s company. “Because it is bullshit. So?”

“I started working on it because I really thought it would be fun to make an AI, but then I thought that it could help me in the future.”

“How so?” Maybe Bucky shouldn’t pry so much, but he couldn’t help his curiosity. He wanted to know as much about Tony as he could.

“Once I’ll be working for SI, full time I’ll need all the help I could get. If the project is successful, it could, for example, run diagnostics for me or take care of big chunks of programming. Not that I wouldn’t be able to do that myself, but there will be a hell of a lot of work and even if I’m a genius...” Tony rambles and when Bucky opens his mouth to say something, Tony just waves him off and continues. “Which obviously I’m….”

“Obviously.” Bucky teases and Tony rolls his eyes.

“And as hard as it is, I can admit I’m just a one man, so help would be appreciated.”

Tony stands up and sits on free space of the table Bucky leans on. He opens his mouth to say something more and hesitates for a moment.  Bucky bits his lip cursing his damn curiosity.

“It’s also a tribute to someone important.”

Something unpleasant unravels in the pit of Bucky’s stomach and he tries to push away the nasty feeling that tries to gnaw its way to the surface. He’s not very successful. “Who?” His tone’s too dry to his liking, something he wanted to hide, but Tony doesn’t seem to catch on that being far away in his thoughts.

“Someone who showed me what family is.” Tony smiles and it takes Bucky breath away. It’s so shy and innocent. “Jarvis may be a butler,  but he’s more of a family to me than Howard ever will be.”

Bucky cringes at that and Tony looks away, shoulders sagging. The silence stretches, doing nothing to soothe Bucky’s nerves because apparently, he stepped on some kind of a minefield and the real ones he can take head on but emotions? He’s not big on those, to say the least. Not anymore anyway.

Eventually Tony continues. “Don’t get me wrong… I…” He takes a deep breath and Bucky can clearly see that Tony is battling whatever it is he wants to say and Bucky has a suspicion that the man beside him never really shared this with anyone. “I don’t hate Howard but you see, once he goes into inventing binge everything else becomes unimportant. “ He laughs mirthlessly. “We Stark men are like that.” He looks at Bucky and for a second Bucky thinks he can see Tony for who he really is and it’s not someone who would forget about people important to him. “In fact, I would go to hell itself for the old man, even if we butt heads all the time.”

It’s not hate like Bucky originally thought, but bitterness and he’s not sure what’s worse. He swears that he will punch older Stark in the face if he sees him and tell him to get his shit together because clearly, Tony thinks that he cares about his father more than Howard cares for him. The silence after that is deafening and Bucky wants desperately to go back on track. “Can you tell me more about Jarvis?”

The mood visibly lightens up and Tony leans on him to Bucky surprise.

“Actually Jarvis and his wife - Ana are going to be parents soon. He’s scared because they’re in their 40’s already so you now it could be dangerous for his wife. Anyway, Jarvis wants me to be a godfather and there’s nothing more I wouldn’t want, but on the other hand I’m scared shitless you know.” Tony laughs. “I don’t know how to handle babies.”

Bucky grins and puts an arm around Tony’s shoulders. “I could show you.”

Tony blinks at him. “What, do you have a baby on the side or something?” His tone is off and Bucky tucks him a little bit closer.

“Nope, but I have a younger sister, so I know a thing or two.” Who he didn’t contact for some time, maybe he should call his baby sister. She and mom must be worried and he winces because they’ll chew him out for sure for the lack of contact and won’t leave a single bone on him. Maybe he could throw Steve at them to ease the impending doom? They loved Steve.

Tony visibly relaxes. “Tell me about her.”

Bucky doesn’t have a chance to because Steve storms right in and Bucky frowns, Steve has determination written all over his face and Bucky has a strange déjà vu kind of feeling. It’s never a good sign. He peeks at Tony, well with one exception.

“What is it?” Bucky asks before Steve has a chance to say anything.

Steve stops and looks at them. He raises an eyebrow at Bucky’s arm that is still around Tony’s shoulders and clears his throat. His eyes crinkle with amusement, but a moment later the look in his eyes hardens up.

Bucky’s neck feels hot under the scrutiny and he knows that later there’ll be some talking with a tremendous amount of teasing from Steve’s part. He isn’t sure if he’s ready for that.

“We need Tony at the central.”

Tony perks up at that, curiosity visible in his eyes. He looks like a cat that found something interesting to play with.

Bucky straightens up grudgingly leaving Tony’s side. “Why?”

Steve sighs. “Apparently Lorek’s team found some data about HYDRA on their last mission.”

“But it was two days ago!” Bucky can’t stop the sudden anger flaring inside.

Steve crosses his arms on his chest, shaking his head in disbelief, most likely trying to wrap his head around this, too. “Yes. They tried to crack it but to no avail.” He looks at Tony. “Are you up to it?”

Tony actually laughs taking both of them by surprise. It’s deep and dark and the look full of determination in his eyes after that is so prominent that Bucky is sure he could touch it if he wanted. It’s like a completely different person to the one from a few minutes ago.

“They should call me sooner, we would have the needed data as soon as I had access to those files,” Tony says, tone serious his posture rigid. Suddenly there wasn’t enough space in the crowded area.

Steve nods slowly, eyes trained on Tony as if he could attack him any minute. “I know, but they thought that they will be able to crack it. They went behind the higher ups back with this too.”

“And they could destroy it because of their damn egos.” Tony snarls.

“Idiots!” Bucky shakes with anger now. They could be taking down another HYDRA base by now if not for these dumbasses. “Wasn’t Tony specifically brought to take care of HYDRA tech related things. Why the hell Lorek did something so stupid?”

“He was.” Steve sighs and palms his neck with defeat. “But apparently Lorek wanted to show his worth or so the rumors say. I don’t really know, it doesn’t matter at the moment.” Steve looks at Tony and smiles. “Are you going to show them how it’s done?”

 “With pleasure.” Tony purrs a manic glint flicking through his eyes and Bucky swallows. It’s so easy to forget that Tony is a really dangerous individual when he’s so tiny and adorable and geeky and charming. Now that Bucky got to know Tony a bit he realized that the Tony on TV is not the real one. It’s like he wears a carefully tailored suit with a mask to protect himself from the world. He’s still rude and charming and intelligent like nobody’s business but not in a way he apparently is when the cameras are nearby. Bucky feels kind of ashamed that he was deceived by this public persona.

“Lead the way Cap,” Tony says and Steve smiles approvingly because at the end of the day all of the Howling Commandos are a little bit crazy when it comes to taking out HYDRA. Especially since HYDRA was the sole reason Howling Commandos were brought together. The blood in Bucky veins runs hot and there’s ringing in his ears at the memory. Tony touches his arm and Bucky shakes off the negative emotions before he gets consumed by anger completely. He nods to sign that he has everything under control. Steve looks at him with worry so he gives him a smile.

There are no more words exchanged. They exit the tent and walk to the head base in fast tempo. Steve a bit ahead and Tony with Bucky side by side behind him. The other soldiers peek at them with interest. After that fight with Rumlow Tony got quite the recognition. And the attention irritates Bucky, especially that one specific attention.  It’s all the more dangerous because Tony stays surprisingly oblivious to all the lingering looks.

Too soon the main barrack shows up in their periphery and Bucky swallows because he doesn’t really like to go there. Once they step in, the thick atmosphere prickles his skin with a thousand needles and he shivers. The tension in the air unnerves him, a quick glance at Tony shows him that Stark seems to be unfazed by this, probably because he was used to something similar being in the public eye since childhood. Bucky doesn’t have time to think about the wrongness of it.

He hears a shout and turns to the person in question and winces. General Ross is shouting at Lorek and his team.  He never liked that opportunistic bastard. Ross didn’t really care for rules, especially when his own gain was at stake. He was probably worse than Rumlow and that’s something. On the other hand, Lorek deserved it. They’re lucky that the data wasn’t destroyed.

Steve goes right to where computers are stationed, not sparing a single glance at Lorek. General O’Hara comes up to them with a stern look marring his face. Bucky likes O'Hara, he was in his 50’s, but he was more energetic than most of the youngsters. The man always cared for the soldiers making sure they had everything they needed and he didn’t take anyone’s bullshit and for that alone, Bucky felt respect for him.

“Captain Rogers. Sergeant Barnes.” He nods to them.

Bucky and Steve salute. “General.”

O'Hara smiles slightly and then he moves his focus on Tony staring him up and down with a calculating look.

Tony stands a bit taller and salutes.

“At ease soldier.” He comes closer to Tony and grins. “I worked with Howard once, he’s a smart man, annoying, but smart. Still, something tells me you’re much smarter and most definitely a better fighter.” He winks knowingly.

Tony blinks once, but that’s the only hint of his surprise by the older man’s words. “And you base your conclusion on what exactly?” He sticks his chin out, and after a moment he adds, “Sir.”

Steve’s eyes widen and Bucky inhales sharply almost choking trying to hold in a laugh. O'Hara doesn’t seem to have the same constraints and laughs loud and clear.

“You’ll be a handful won’t you?” He shakes his head and pats Tony’s shoulder. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing. And my conclusion, well you’re the one that builds our weapons.”

Tony opens his mouth in a small ‘o’.

“Don’t give me this look I have my ways.” O'Hara grins. “I also know that you’re the one that opened a charity to help soldiers live the life they deserve because we all know how our country treats veterans.” He points his finger up when Tony wants to say something again. “I also know that the line of prosthetics is your idea and that you work on each one individually.”

“Ho… how?” Tony swallows thickly.

“My son lost his leg in action, you made it possible for him to live his life again. He couldn’t shut up about the certain young genius that took his measurements and asked a million questions a minute. The result is amazing, to say the least.”

Tony ducks his head down smiling shyly.

Bucky tries to keep the shock away. He didn’t know that he never heard anything like that on the TV, but on the other hand, television always seemed more interested in scandals than actual things worth recognition and Tony apparently did a lot of good things. He was a marvel, a set of contradictions and actions that spoke more than words ever could be and most importantly with a heart of gold apparently. The sudden flare of protectiveness takes Bucky by surprise and he sways on his feet from the force of it. Steve catches his elbow to steady him.

“You ok?”

He nods weakly. He wanted to know more. He looks back at the man in question.

O'Hara twines his hands behind his back. “I would ask you if you can decipher that data, but I know you can. So go for it, soldier.”

Tony grins and sits by one of the free computers. People start to come closer to see for themselves what the fuss is about and then Tony works his magic.

Bucky is mesmerized. He thought, Tony was graceful when he took down Rumlow, but here, simply sitting and doing what he evidently loves, completely focused on his task and with scary efficiency, changed Bucky’s mind. Even if graceful wouldn’t be the word he would normally use on someone using a computer. To think that before he met Tony, he thought that Stark was arrogant, pompous sissy with an ego bigger than empire state building. Honestly, Bucky never was more happy to admit he was wrong than in this moment.

Fifteen minutes later, Tony stops typing and throws his hands in the air in a grand gesture. “Voila!”

There is stunned silence and apparently, it starts to be a constant thing when Tony is involved.

Lorek rises from his seat, his face scrunched in disbelief. “We tried to crack it for two days. There’s no way you did it so fast!”

Tony looks at him with disdain. “I’m really amazed you didn’t set any of the traps inside the code.“ He points at the computer screen. “There were traps inside traps. Really, kudos for HYDRA, because I had to disarm them all to claw my way to the main information.” He gesticulates wildly trying to get his point across. “One mistake and virus nestled inside that code would fry our systems.” He gives one more look at the screen. “Ah, I almost forgot. It would also send our data to HYDRA servers.”

Bucky wasn’t really surprised that HYDRA took additional precaution to keep their information safe. Not only they were more technologically advanced, they knew that the military will bring someone who can crack it, and they did, but something tells Bucky HYDRA wasn’t counting on the younger of the Starks.

O’Hara clears his throat, drawing all attention to himself. “Explain.”

“They implemented a virus to take down our systems if we set off any of the traps. Like I said all of our data would be sent to them and then destroyed… infinitely, completely wiped out. If our systems were to fall, then we would be an easy target.”

Lorek comes up to Tony ignoring General O’Hara. “You are lying!”

Tony shrugs. “Well, we can call Stellar, he knows enough to know by looking at the code that I’m not, by all means, lying.”

Lorek opens his mouth and then shuts it. He looks at Tony for a few seconds, his nose flares with barely kept anger.

Bucky steps closer, but it’s O’Hara, who intervenes.

“Enough Lorek. Dismissed.”

Lorek doesn’t move, he looks at O’Hara accusingly.

“I said dismissed.”

Eventually, Lorek gives up and turns away. His chest rises with a sudden inhale and then he goes out of the tent, his team following him.

There will be a punishment for insubordination for sure, Bucky thinks, but in all honesty, he couldn’t care less.

The silence after that is broken by Steve. “And the data? What’s in there?”

Tony turns to face them. “Location of HYDRA bases and notes about experimentation.” He makes a face at the last one.

Steve’s face clouds and he looks at Bucky. Tony catches that and frowns, but doesn’t say anything.

O’Hara scratches his chin. “Well, captain Rogers looks like you and your team will have some work to do after all.”

Bucky smiles, he’s so focused on the computer screen where the information is laid for them that he misses the worry on Tony’s face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all sorry for the lack of update. The cold came back at me full force around Christmas and held for quite some time, but it's all good now so the updates should be more regular now.
> 
> As for the second, well there will be finally some action in the next chapters and Commandos will show their prowess in the field also I'm going to slowly add other people POV.


	5. Chapter 5

Something is wrong with Bucky.

That one quite innocent thought planted its seed in Tony’s mind and couldn’t leave it. He’s pretty sure that whatever it is, it has something to do with HYDRA and from Bucky’s reaction and Steve’s worried look it has to be something big. The information he recovered, got him some idea, too, which wasn’t anything good.

It was ridiculous, but he got close to Bucky in little to no time and he was worried about him. He sighs and looks over to Steve and Bucky who were talking in hushed tones. He can feel Bucky’s annoyance and Steve’s concern from across the room, really they’re not subtle at all.

“What’s up kiddo?”

Tony looks up and smiles when he sees Dugan then he grimaces because he’s no kid, he tells him as much, “ ’m not a kid.” He wasn’t one for a long time, numbers aside.

Dugan leans on the upper bunk bed, face serious. “No, you’re not.” He grins. “Still, you’re the youngest in our group, so…”

He ruffles Tony’s hair and makes an even bigger mess out of them. It’s foreign to Tony, this sign of affection, or maybe it’s not that, not really. Peggy and Jarvis used to do that along with other people close to him all the time, but case in point, they knew him for some time. Howling Commandos on the other hand… well, they were strangers to him and yet they accepted him pretty quickly and as strange as it is he really feels welcome here. He knows that It’s dangerous to get attached so fast. Natasha told him to be cautious of people, not to let them too close, too fast, but apparently, he was a fool. He knew that letting people in, usually ends with him being hurt, but somehow he knows that he can trust these people. He got attached, sue him for that. They’re good people, very likable and then there is Bucky which is a different matter entirely. He doesn’t think about Bucky’s devil may care smile and a mischievous glint in his eyes, nope.

Dugan sits beside him and bumps his shoulder with his own.

Tony rolls his eyes. “Whatever helps you sleep at night Dum Dum.” He looks back at Bucky, who’s sitting slumped against the bed post with Steve looming over him with crossed arms. They look like a parent and a child which is kind of hilarious actually. Poor Bucky, although he can’t blame Steve for being protective of his friend, brother really. Tony doesn’t know Bucky for long and he’s worried already, he can’t imagine how Steve feels. Or he can, if someone hurt Rhodey he could crawl out of his skin with worry for his friend and most likely he would be plotting a revenge.

Dugan follows his line of sight and catches on his inner turmoil. “Worried?”

Tony bites his lip, not sure whatever he should ask or not, he may be welcome here, but it doesn’t mean he’s a real part of a team with everything that it entitles. Which is probably a stupid thing to think about.

“Bucky… it’s… did something happen to him? Something involving HYDRA?”

Dugan looks at him closely, searching his face and then frowns when he can’t find whatever he was looking for. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

Dugan straightens up and turns to face Tony, to see him better, the silence that follows is uncomfortable.

“How much do you know about Howling Commandos, Tony?”

Tony opens his mouth, then he closes it when his mind comes up blank. He searches for something, anything, but he can’t find a single thing on Howling Commandos other than that they’re living heroes basically, which now that he thinks of it, is strange, and why the hell he didn’t dig up some information about them? He would, normally, but he somehow omitted it. He almost facepalms himself with revelations to his stupidity. Natasha would disapprove, she would disapprove even more if she knew that it was because he was distracted, he can admit that much, no point in lying to himself. He was distracted by them, by the whole lot of them and Bucky, especially Bucky. He was no believer, but God, he was completely gone, wasn’t he? Ladies and Gentlemen: Tony Stark the infatuated fool, a king of fools to be exact.

Well, but who could blame him? Bucky is absolutely gorgeous, smart and funny and likes sci-fi. If the circumstances were different he would totally  climb him like a tree, a very nicely shaped tree and probably gave his heart out for the taking in the process, but they’re in a war that could easily turn into World War III if the data he decrypted is anything to go by and that alone is a rather disturbing thought… aaand he was going off the track.

Howling Commandos. Right.

He doesn’t know anything about them and it really comes to him as a surprise since even the higher ups didn’t tell him much which was weird, the sudden assignment, too, even though he wasn’t once in the active war zone. Everything happened so fast, he completely lost himself in the events. God, Peggy would smack him over the head.

Dum Dum clears his throat and raises his brow when Tony looks at him.

“Looking at your completely lost face, tells me that you don’t know much, do you?”

Tony looks to the side and slumps on the bedpost just like Bucky did. “Nope. Higher ups didn’t really give me your dossier or anything, which is weird, maybe they assumed that I would know? Which I didn’t since it’s not so long since I arrived in the camp,” he babbles,“and I was only interested in tech and such so maybe it’s my fault, too.” He looks down at his hands.

“Not your fault really, they should tell you something.”

“I guess it has something to do with HYDRA? They experiment on people… did… did they try something on Bucky? On any of you?”

Dugan sighs heavily. “They tried, but fortunately Steve came to our rescue in all his goody two shoes glory. They had us for a week, maybe a week and a half. They wanted information, and since they didn’t get any, they thought we would be good guinea pigs.”

Dugan looks over to Bucky and Steve. “We weren’t even a team then, but after Steve took us out of there, O’Hara assigned us as one. We deal with HYDRA specifically now.”

“They tortured you.” Tony states and just a mere thought of that gives him chills.

Dugan nods. “They did, and they were damn creative, I’m not sure if we would be able to survive if we were in their claws for longer.”

Tony knew HYDRA was bad news. That the people in their ranks were dangerous and messed up. The thought that Howling Commandos were hurt by them strikes a cold fire in his veins. In that moment it didn’t matter that it happened before Tony got to know any of them.

He turns to Dugan, his mind made up. “We’re going to stop these bastards.”

Dum Dum makes a surprised face and then he smirks. “That we’ll do.” He turns ready to get up, but he looks at Tony again, the smirk gone replaced by a furrowed eyebrows and a stern look. “It’s good that you’re riled up, but you need to be cautious when dealing with HYDRA, they’re damn dangerous. One wrong move and you’re done for.”

Tony nods and lets out a breath that takes away all the tension he didn’t think was there. Dugan pats his shoulder as he gets up.

“Cap! Are you going to torment Bucky any longer or are we going to do some planning?” Dum Dum shouts, catching the attention of everyone else.

Steve looks at them, then at Bucky and back at them and nods.

“Alright to the table, everyone.”

Tony gets up and slowly makes his way to the center of the tent.

Gabe bumps into him. “You look pumped up.”

“We’re talking HYDRA here, so yeah.”

“Afraid?”

Tony thinks about it. HYDRA is dangerous and he never was in the field, wasn’t a part of any even remotely risky mission. He was completely new at this and he was scared that he will drag his team down. He knew he’s a capable fighter, Peggy and Natasha took care of that, he’s also sure that he can deal with any tech they’ll throw at him. He’s not sure how well he will function in a team. It’s foreign to him, working in one, but it’s nothing he can’t manage, he thinks. “A little I guess.”

Gabe nods in understanding. “A little bit of fear is a good thing.”

“I know. It helps to stay focused and motivated or so I heard.” Surprisingly, it came from Ana and Tony took it to heart. She told him that after he was kidnapped for the first time as a kid. When Peggy rescued him and brought home, Ana hugged him tightly and started crying, he cried then, too. Even his mom wasn’t this open with her feelings.

“Yes, it does.”  Gabe pats him on the back and grinning, he goes to stand beside Morita who’s munching on nuts. Gabe tries to steal some, but Morita shoves him away.

Tony shakes his head with amusement. He takes place beside Dum Dum across from Steve and Bucky who looks completely drained. Tony doesn’t blame him, being the object of someone concern can do that to people.

The atmosphere is almost joyful, casual but Tony can feel the tension that hides behind it. Everyone is silent when Steve looks at them one by one, once he gets to him, Tony does what he does best, and that is his mouth, running off without his permission, usually it ends with him saying something utterly stupid or offensive or both.

“Are we knights of the round table or something? I certainly feel like one.” So the stupid thing then.

Corner of Steve’s lips twitches. “Our table is not exactly round, Tony.”

Jacques snickers and Falsworth nudges him in the side.

Tony rolls his eyes. “Well the knights of the square table, then. You’re totally king Artur, Cap, don’t be fooled.”

Steve laughs with mirth and Tony counts that as a win since the tension eased up.

“You heard the lad our Golden King, so what are we going to do.” Jacques points at Tony.

Steve shakes his head and Bucky snorts.

“We will attack them and then destroy the bases of course.”

“It’s a very good plan my liege. The very pinnacle of all plans.” Jacques bows and Commandos laugh.

Steve puts his hands on the table. “All right jokes aside. There are four bases that we know of thanks to Tony decrypting the data.”

The rest of the squad look at Tony approvingly.

Bucky hands Steve a map and he rolls it out on the table. “Two of the bases are located in Iraq, one in Iran and one in Afghanistan.” He shows the spots on the map and everyone leans in to see a little better.

Tony already knows where the bases are so he looks at Bucky instead. He’s focused on the map and Tony can see how much it means to him to destroy HYDRA, whatever happened to him when he was their captive it must have changed him in more than one way. Tony got to know Bucky a bit already and he can tell he’s very protective of others, maybe even has a little bit of a hero complex trying to save as many lives as he can.  HYDRA most likely did some atrocities to other people to get what they want and if they held Bucky captive then who knows what he saw there, it must have been something awful, though.

“The base we’re going to attack first is located on the Warlord Sakeer territory. He most likely works for them. We’ll have to proceed with caution.” Steve says cutting off Tony’s line of thoughts.

Tony heard about Sakeer. He’s a monster with an army and good resources. Now they know how he got them.

Bucky crosses his arms and Tony follows the motion. “It will be hard. That place is like a fortress.”

Steve looks at his second in command and nods. “True, but we’re a small group we can use it to our advantage.”

No one says anything so Steve starts laying out the plan and Tony listens to it, but he can’t help glancing in Bucky’s direction every moment or so until Bucky catches him doing that and winks. Tony doesn’t blush. _He does not._

He totally does.

Bucky smiles and Tony bites his lip. It goes for some time until Tony notes the odd silence. When he breaks eye contact with Bucky he looks at all the people around him that are looking between the two of them with amused smirks plastered to their faces.

Steve looks like he tries not to laugh at their embarrassed faces. “We try to make a plan here so the two of you stop with the flirting over our table.”

“You heard our Gold King. No flirting by the table.” Morita shouts.

Gabe whistles. “Bucky you have no shame.”

“You heard the man,” Steve says seriously, but his eyes are telling a different story.

“Stevie!” Bucky whines.

Tony honestly waits for Earth to open and swallow him whole because it’s ridiculous. He didn’t feel so embarrassed since he made a clown out of himself at the entrance ceremony in his first year of MIT, but here he is. Life is so fucking strange he doesn’t understand it at all. The Universe must hate him or something.

Bucky is kind of flushed and Tony’s happy that he’s not alone in this.

The teasing goes for some time, but eventually, Steve clears his throat and clasps his hands.

“Ok, enough. We’re leaving at 0700. So you better rest. Dismissed.”

“Aye, aye, Cap.” They salute and everyone goes to take care of their business before the mission.

Tony slowly makes his way out of the tent intending to tinker a bit with his toys that could render helpful in their mission.  Bucky catches up to him just outside of the tent.

“Sorry for that.”

“Well to be fair, I was the one that was staring,” Tony says shrugging his shoulders.

Bucky opens his mouth, his eyes unreadable but he doesn’t say anything instead he smirks.

Tony shakes his head. “What are you grinning at?”

Bucky puts an arm around Tony shoulders and whispers into his ear, “well you were staring quite intently.”

Tony gulps but he’s  _the Tony Stark_ and he doesn’t back down from a challenge and this is evidently one.  He turns his head up until he is face to face with Bucky. “Of course James,” he accents Bucky’s name, “but you should be more concerned about my very intent thoughts, hot stuff.” He smirks when Bucky’s  pupils dilate and his breath catches. He shakes Bucky’s arm off and goes to the tech tent, and if he swings his hips a little, well, who could blame him.

 


	6. Chapter 6

The morning came entirely too fast, especially since Tony spent the better part of the night talking with Bucky and working on his tiny, killer mosquitos. To be honest, he didn’t need so much sleep anyway and the buzzing energy, the anticipation, and excitement, under his skin wouldn’t help to fall asleep either so he spent the energy doing something useful instead. It was a nice night, productive even and well… there was also Bucky, the flirtatious tone of their conversation after the strategic meeting was gone once they stepped into the tech tent and turned into more serious tones which were good because he was a bit stupid when it came to people he liked. Making a move before the mission was a rather bad idea, besides putting aside the flirting and the obvious attraction he didn’t know where he really stood with Bucky. Which probably wasn’t a good time to think about now.

He looks down at his cup, a simple military one, and stares at the coffee inside. The cup is made from metal, nothing special about it, but it told a story of itself in little details here and there. An irregular scratch on the side of the cup from falling from the table, the dent on the edge from knocking it too hard with another cup with, now, similar dent. The black liquid waves slightly and Tony sighs deeply. He hears the rustling and soft wind creeping into the tent. He knows it was Steve so he drinks the rest of his coffee in one go and stands up.

Steve looks him up and down and then looks over the rest of the Commandos, face all serious and timid. Bucky right next to him, the same expression and Tony was surprised that they’re not brothers from the same blood.

"Alright, team. We have an important mission today so you need to stay focused and if everything goes well then it will be a serious blow to HYDRA.”

Dugan steps closer to Tony and pats him on the back. "No worries, Cap. If everything goes south we’re good at improvising.” The tone is light but Tony knows that Dum Dum is pretty fucking serious.

"He’s right, Cap. There’s nothing to worry about.” Falsworth says, face unreadable, but it usually was this way with him.

Bucky grins a bit and Steve sighs. "It’s not reassuring at all especially since when you say that it never ends how it supposed to end.”

Tony shrugs. "Well, when it comes to war it rarely does.” Which is awful but unfortunately true. Tony wishes it wasn't.

Cap raises his brow and stares at Tony with a calculating look and Tony almost snorts because he knows that look, people often look at him like that when they’re not expecting him to say some deep and wise thing. It’s a bit insulting, to be honest, but Tony rolls with it anyway. No point on focusing on little things.

Bucky pats Steve on the shoulder. "Besides Stevie, we’re at our best when we have to improvise.”

The team choruses him in utter harmony and Steve just sighs some more. Tony isn’t fooled though because the slightly turned up corner of his lips says a different story.

After a moment of silence, Steve nods. "Alright, go grab your gear.” He turns but stops mid step. "Morita, you’re our driver.”

Morita acknowledges it with a quick move of his head before he’s out of the tent.

The rest of them slowly make their way to the exit. Bucky on their heels trying to make them go faster. Tony smiles at the boyish excitement even though they could all die today. It doesn’t stop him from worrying, though, because that kind of excitement in this situation can’t exactly be healthy. He gnaws on the inside of his cheek and follows them but before he can go in their steps Steve catches up to him.

"You didn’t sleep at all, did you?”

Tony knew it would worry Cap but he looks at him, seriousness written all over his face. "Don’t worry Cap. I caught a bit of a shut eye, besides I don’t need so much sleep, to begin with.”

Steve’s face scrunches up. "It’s not the time for arrogance.” There’s worry there, hiding in that little crinkle between his brows, the same one that was there when Steve was talking with Bucky not so long ago.

Tony cringes, he could expect that his words will be taken this way.

"Every mistake can kill us. It’s not a child game.” The way he says it, kind of reminds Tony of Peggy, she’s a master of scolding. Tony fears the day when the two of them meet.

"I know that. It’s just the way I’m Steve. My mind wouldn’t let me sleep anyway. Too many ideas running through it.” He chuckles, "I learned to deal with it and believe me when I say that I’m at my best in those circumstances. I know my limits.”

"Do you really?”

"I do. Ok, let’s go already or do you want to make everyone wait?”

Tony turns on his heels, _he’s not running_ , but Steve has other ideas. He grabs him by the arm, "Be careful out there.” There’s something vulnerable housed under those words and Tony nods, words a bit stuck in his throat.

They go to grab their gear but Bucky stands in their way, arms crossed and brow raised, corner of his mouth turned up in a cheeky smile. "Took you both long enough.” He grins. "Seriously Stevie you should stop tormenting people with your worry….”

"Like you’re any different, Buck,” Steve mutters and Tony snorts; he gets a nudge to the side from Bucky and a hand on his head ruffling his hair.

"Don’t pout, Tony,” Steve says and this time it’s Tony who mutters under his nose. "’m not.”

Bucky laughs. "Sure you are.”

Tony sighs loudly, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "Whatever.”

 "Anyway,” Bucky continues unperturbed, "we grabbed your gear, so we’re going straight to the Mystery Machine.”

Steve let’s out some strange sound at that, something between a snort and a whine and Tony almost facepalms the ground. "Wait, what? The Mystery Machine? Did I hear that right?”

Steve sighs heavily. "It’s Bucky’s idea. No one else calls it that.”

Tony smiles innocently but his eyes sparks with mischievousness. "I will.”

Cap groans and Bucky raises his hand up so Tony can high five him.

The moment is fleeting, though. Soon enough they’re at the meeting point and Tony is going from 0 to 60. It struck him that he actually might die today and his stomach flips unhappily at that. Suddenly everything looks sharper and distant at the same time. He sees every detail of the weapons their squad holds in contrast to dulled voices of his surrounding. Weapons that he will use today and most likely kill someone. It takes him a second to shake out of his reverie.

"I brought our Highness!.” Bucky shouts from behind him and Tony hears more than sees Steve whacking his friend over the head. He’s too focused on the possibilities before him, to pay it any mind, though.

He grabs his gear that Dugan holds out for him, they exchange a look and Tony knows immediately that Dum Dum understands that it’s huge for him, that despite everything this mission will change his life, understands that whatever it brings, Tony will fight to the death if needed. He doesn’t comment on the little shake of Tony’s hands when he grabs his firearms and Tony is grateful for that.

They go in the truck, Praga V2S or V3S Tony thinks and Morita pulls out of the camp. The ride's a bit bumpy since they're not taking the main road. It's an hour more or less to Ar - Ramadi. They go over their plan again and Tony listens to every detail he can and memorizes it. He makes his own plans in his head, too. He knows he can't prepare for every situation, but the possible scenarios and numbers associated with them will make a nice foundation for any possible mishap.

"We expect street cameras, so you need to be careful not to be caught on them," Steve says and Tony shakes out of his thoughts.

He clears his throat to catch Steve's attention.

"What is it, Tony?"

Tony rummages through his pockets and fishes out a small metal box.

Gabe scrunches his brows and leans forward. "It's a box."

"Very observant, of you." Tony deadpans and then opens the box before Gabe can say something. He takes out a small mosquito.

Bucky brightens up. "You finished them?"

Tony smiles from ear to ear and Steve looks between the two of them.

"Wait you know what is that?"

Bucky looks at him and Tony nods.

"Tony made them. They're little robots basically. They can hook into the electric network and for example, change the video feed or make a digital map of the area they scout." He looks briefly at Tony for confirmation. Tony gives a sign that he’s good.

Steve looks at Tony with surprise laced with confusion. "Change how?"

Tony shrugs. "They would erase.... our presence in the video feed in real time. We would be virtually invisible so to speak."

Steve whistles. "Really?"

Tony grins. "Really."

Gabe makes a move to grab one but Bucky stops him. "Wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Why the hell not?"

"Some of them carry a neurotoxin if they think you're a threat, BOOM, paralyzed." Tony finishes.

Gabe goes pale and slowly takes his hand back. "Wait.... think?"

"They may be small but they're still AI. Simple ones but still."

"AI... right," Steve says with wonder. "How smart are you exactly?"

Tony shrugs. "Don't really know."

Dum Dum laughs loudly startling everyone inside the truck. "Looks like we acquired a hell of an addition."

"Velma to our Scooby-Doo band,” Morita adds taking a sudden turn to the left and then right.

Steve’s face pinches in resignation. "Not you too.”

Jacques chuckles and pats Tony on the back. "More like Velma’s brain in Daphne’s body.”

Bucky gawks at him and Jacques shrugs his shoulders innocently. "What? He’s a pretty little thing, our baby Commando.”

Tony tenses, Bucky shuts his mouth and the rest just look at Jacques in astonishment.

Morita shakes his head, "Oh boy.”

Tony slowly turns and Jacques gulps, slowly turning his head to look at his teammate and is welcomed by a very pissed of Tony Stark.

"Tony.” Steve says in alarm at the same time as Jacques bows his head and shouts, "Sorry! I give up!”

The air is tense for a second but when he looks up he’s met with a grin and very exasperated look.

"Um…” He lets out and Tony chuckles.

"What? Did you think I’ll attack you or something?”

Jacques chuckles nervously, "yes?”

Tony rolls his eyes. "Maybe I would but we’re currently squeezed up in a car on a very important mission, so you know not really a wise thing to go after your teammate, is it?”

Bucky objects pointing his finger at Stark. "Hey! You attacked me for calling you…” Tony looks sharply at him and Bucky blanches a bit.

Dugan laughs in his usual booming voice. "Looks like he’s still a bossy tiny little thing, after all.”

Bucky looks at Dugan in horror then at Tony only to see the amused smile and a raised brow.

"Meh I wouldn’t go for Dum Dum, he’s a big softie, besides I would be deprived of cuddles.”

"What cuddles?!” Bucky almost shouts.

"The best ones.” Tony grins happily.

"Tony’s right Dugan is like a big plushie bear,” Gabe adds and Steve nods.

Bucky hides his face in his hands. "I feel so betrayed right now.”

Dugan hooks his arm around Bucky’s shoulders and hugs him, "now, now. I’ll share some hugs with you, too.”

Steve and Tony burst out laughing.

The air cleared up and Tony completely forgot the initial worry about the mission. Sure everything can go south in a matter of seconds but now he feels ready for whatever comes. He has reliable teammates with him. After that they sit in the silence and with every passing minute, the minute they’re closer to enemy territory Tony feels calmer, ready.

Morita stops a mile away from their destination. The rest of the way they’ll be going on foot. Everyone grabs their gear and goes outside. The sky is dark and cloudy like it’s ready to what has to come. It’s almost eerily silent except for the wind lashing through some of the bushes in the surrounding area.

"We’re going to separate now.” Steve’s voice is awfully loud in the silence.

Tony looks at each of the Howling Commandos noting the seriousness in their faces, when he looks at Bucky he furrows his brows. He notes to himself to keep an eye on him, something in his expression unnerves Tony. Better safe than sorry.

"Tony when you can release those things of yours.”

Tony sighs. "They’re mosquitos you know.”

Steve raises his brow in silent ‘so.’

"Right now.” He pulls out the box and opens it. "They’ll be faster on the site than any of us. They will check the perimeter and look for the network they could attach themselves into. With any luck, they’ll be able to localize the HYDRA base. My best guess is that it’ll be somewhere underground since the city is a ruin.”

Steve nods his head. „Will they give any sign that they hacked the cameras?”

"A three pings every one, two seconds apart.” Tony looks briefly to the city in the distance then looks down at the box, "Espresso-tango-bravo-alpha.” He whispers.

Bucky quirks his head to the side. "What was that?” Just when he finishes the question one of the mosquitoes slowly lifts up from the box, the rest of them soon after flies out, too.

"They’re voice activated.”

Bucky smiles. "Nice.” His eyes following the mosquitos flying away.

Steve smiles appreciatively and then squares his shoulders. "Alright team, let’s go. Remember no talking over the comms unless necessary.”

They nod and team up into designated groups. Tony, Bucky, and Dum Dum go on the south of the city, Steve and Gabe take west and Morita, Falsworth and Jacques go east. They’re going to enter the city and make their way into Sakeer territory at the center of the Ar Ramadi. The closer to the base the tighter the guard will be. Still, the warlord has enough men to patrol the rest of the city. They’ll need to be careful not to raise alarm until they reach the base. So basically a stealth mission.

 

They don’t waste any more time and go. Tony rubs his eyes and shakes his head to clear his mind. They’re not talking instead they go slowly, carefully, hiding up when they see any move or hear any sound. Once they’re half way through they hide behind a broken wall that must’ve been a part of a building once upon a time. Dugan takes out the binoculars and looks over the city searching for patrols or outposts in a close perimeter. Bucky and Tony sit on their hunches, muscles tense from waiting. After few minutes Dugan lowers the binoculars down.

Tony has enough of waiting. "So?”

Dum Dum scratches his chin, looking over his shoulder to the city, studying it for few more seconds. "The best choice would be the east entrance, the closest outpost is half a mile away closer to the central entrance. I saw 2 patrols 5 men each that would be on our way to the city. It will be relatively easy to avoid them.”

"The problem will be closer to the damn base.” Bucky lets out with a grumble.

Dugan’s face closes up. "Unfortunately, on the other hand, it will be fun to attack them from inside.” He grins and Tony has a feeling that something will blow up, not literally of course. Still, he hums in agreement, his nerves forgotten.

Bucky puts his hand on his shoulder and squeezes, "Ready?”

"Can you ever be ready for something like this?”

Dugan shrugs and answers for Bucky, "not really.”

Bucky takes the binoculars from Dum Dum and checks the perimeter again. They hear three pings in their comms and Tony grins. "It’s done.”

They wait few more minutes until Bucky decides it’s okay to go. They step carefully, stopping every few seconds to assess the situation. Going into the city undetected will be hard but very much possible on the other hand walking to the very heart of the ruined town, will be that much harder. Near impossible to be honest. Tony looks at Bucky’s broad back and then glances at Dum Dum, he smiles, because if the stories in the camp are not too much exasperated (they probably are at least a bit) Howling Commandos are made for the impossible and Tony hopes that today, being part of this team, he will help make it happen. The lightning in the distance echoes through the sky like an angry tiger and Bucky halts in his steps. Tony almost falls on him, he looks at Bucky urgently when he turns his head to glance at him.

Tony raises his brow asking a silent question.

"Tony are your mosquitos rain proof?”

Laugh bubbles from Tony’s mouth before he can stop it. Another Thunderball covers it, so they don’t have to be worried if someone heard them. "Of course they are, who do you think I am?”

The tension leaves Bucky’s shoulders and he almost grins, "Genius, billionaire, philanthropist?”

Tony gawks at him and Dugan laughs, his whole body shaking from the force of it. "He kind of is, isn’t he?” He says rubbing the tears pooling in the corner of his eyes from laughing too hard and from the lashing wind most likely.

"That he is.”

Tony snorts, "I can’t believe the two of you.”

They banter is cut short when the comms come to live and they hear Steve’s voice.

"Report.” It’s short and clear, sometimes Tony forgets that Steve is the leader of their Merry little band.

"We’re heading to the city, eta 5 min.” Bucky quickly replies.

"Noted. Proceed with caution.”

Dugan snorts behind him. "Well Cap, aren’t you a bit stiff today.”

"Yeah Stevie, the weather is so nice,” the thunderbolt lights the whole sky, "big mission ahead of us.”

"Exactly, so no talking.” He goes radio silent after that, and Bucky shakes his head with amusement. "Brat.”

Dugan leans close to Tony and whispers very seriously although his eyes are betraying the humor behind his words. "Don’t mind it, they’re annoying like that.”

Tony gives a tiny smile at Bucky’s affronted look.

"We’re not.”

Dugan grins but doesn’t reply instead he nods in the city direction and Bucky shakes his head in resignation.

Tony thought that they’ll never get serious.

They came as close as 100 meters to the ruined walls of the city, the patrols were scarce on the outskirts of the city, but Tony wasn’t about to complain to that.

They run reaching the walls undetected, breath ragged from dashing there as fast as they could. The blood thrums in Tony’s ears, heart beating awfully fast, but strangely enough, he’s not afraid not anymore, it’s more like… excitement. Bucky glances around the corner and signs them to run to the building across the road. It’s a rather short and very long block, it’s ruined like everything else, walls crumpled to the ground, roof reminding Tony of swiss cheese. But it’s empty and that means a good hideout. On the run to the building Tony notes a street camera, and his pulse jumps but he calms down, he believes in his tech.

There’s no one in the building and they successfully walk through the whole length of it. From this point onward they move in the shadows of the city it was once. Dugan is surprisingly light on his feet for someone his size, even if he almost fell down on the ground when he stumbled on some rubble.

They successfully avoided most of the patrols, Tony hoped the rest of the Commandos made it that far without a hitch, too and he supposed they did since there weren't any gunshots yet.

Everything was easy enough up to this point, they crouch next to a window with a clear view on the patrols below. Tony counted 15 people, 5 for each of them.

Bucky squirms a bit next to him, irritated, Dugan, on the other hand plays with his ridiculous bowler hat. Tony thinks that this thing belongs in the past but, Dum Dum liked it so he let it go.

"What’s next?” Tony whispers, observing the movement outside with a corner of his eye. "We’re kinda trapped here.”

Dugan nods along, "It’s a matter of minutes before someone catches us.”

Bucky glances quickly outside and furrows his brows. He drums his fingers on the sniper rifle he’s holding, he doesn’t say anything for longer time mulling things over in his head. Tony observes him, it’s clear that Bucky wants to just go there and get things done, but that would alarm HYDRA about their arrival and compromise the rest of them.

Finally, he looks at them, "I would normally go to look for some high enough place and shoot…”

Tony glances at the rifle and raises his brows in amusement, "their heads off?”

Bucky smiles, "but the gunshot would alarm them, so we need to separate and take them down the old fashioned way.”

Dugan’s eyes crinkle around the corners he heaves himself up and dusts his pants. "I really hoped for some fireworks and brute force.” He sighs almost theatrically.

Bucky grins at that. "Soon Dum Dum.”

Tony gets up but his steps falter, separate, means they’re going for the patrols themselves. It means Tony is going to kill someone and the thought unease him, it’s fleeting though. It’s them or his squad and there’s no way in hell he will let anyone hurt them.

He takes the stairs down observing Bucky’s tensed back and gulps. It will be fine, he thinks, they’ll make it through, they have to. He stops in the exit to the building, Dum Dum quickly moves around the corner and Bucky sprints to the next building. Tony just stands there not sure where he should go, what exactly he should do. He takes step back to hide in the shadow, his hands shaking. He fists them, nails digging into his skin, almost piercing it.

"Damn, get it together.” He scolds himself trying to stop the tremors. He breaths deeply in then out. He glances over his shoulder. The voices of the Sakeer goons echoes on the other side of the walls. The patrols separated just like them. He’s about to go out of the building when something catches his eye. He rounds the corner stepping over the rubble, there’s a portion of a fallen wall obscuring the pathway. The entrance is rather small and as much as Tony hates to admit it, he’s not the biggest person in the world, this time though it’s to his advantage. He knows he should go out of the building and go after the patrol but something tells him that wherever that path will take him, can make it easier for him. He crouches and tries to squeeze in, carefully not to disrupt the wall to fall on him, just the thought of being buried alive make him cringe, but he moves forward. Soon enough he’s on the other side and he’s met with stairs down. He moves slowly, hand on the wall guiding him, while his eyes adjust to the darkness.

He steps into a small corridor of sorts, he hears voices over his head, the patrol he’s after. The corridor is longer than Tony thought it would be, turning right and left, eventually he sees a light going through holes in the ceiling. He comes closer realizing it must’ve been fundaments or what was left after. He finds stairs up and slowly goes up, observing the surroundings, he notes that there are not many tall buildings in the area, and there are no people on the rooftops. He steps outside, the stairs are obscured by a wall around so Tony can hide behind it and assess the situation. He looks over the edge of the wall. It really was a building once but there’s nothing left of it besides some walls practically falling apart. It’s basically an open space. He notes the patrol behind the far wall and looks around, noting that area is clear so he quickly hides behind another wall. He’s close enough to hear what the goons are talking about.

"I don’t think Sakeer knows what he’s doing.”

"Do you want to lose your head, idiot?!”

"So we should just go and attack U.S military base?” The man hisses.

Tony’s heart almost stops.

"Yes! They deserve this! An – Nadżaf is ours!” The other man growls.

The blood thrums in Tony’s ears. They going to attack their base. No, they can’t let that happen.

"Fuck this shit. I’m going to check the area.”

The rest of the goons shrugs their shoulders. They nod their heads and everyone walks the other way. Tony keeps his breath in for a second. They split and Tony almost feel sorry for them, because they won’t see it coming. See _him_ coming. He waits, when the lightning struck in the distance, he takes his chance and runs after one of the men. He rounds the building and before the man knows he’s here he takes out his knife and slits his throat. It’s a clean cut and Tony breath catches when he looks at the deep wound, it’s a second or two before the blood starts flowing. It’s slow at first but then it’s like a dam was open, he looks away. There’s no time to think about what he did. It’s war he says himself and goes after another HYDRA.

The man catches the movement when Tony sneaks on him before he can shout to alert someone, Tony slams a hand over his mouth and knocks his head on the wall, two times and the man goes limp in his hold.

He hunts the rest of them and it’s too easy, his heart beating like a frightened rabbit, but his hands are not shaking anymore. It’s clean and fast, the whole patrol took down in a matter of minutes. Bodies lying in the shadows. Tony stands there, not sure what to do, he feels a drop of water on his cheek, he looks up. The sky lights up with a lightning, the rain finally falling down. He just lets it wash him over. He shakes again and squeezes his eyes. He should hide before enemy will stumble on him, but he was rooted to the spot. He didn’t understand the swirl of emotion that waved him over.

"Tony, report.” Bucky’s voice in the earpiece is unnaturally loud but Tony doesn’t really notice that.

"Tony, report!” Bucky repeats, voice urgent.

Tony looks down at the body by his feet. These people hurt Commandos, they hurt their own people, too. Destroyed their own cities. Murdered innocent people, tortured them. Then another thought blooms in his head. ‘I killed them.’ He feels a bile rising in his throat. He knew it won’t be easy and yet he’s here. He takes a few deep breaths.

"Tony!” Bucky almost yells in his comm.

There’s some static before another voice joins in. "What is it, Bucky? Report.”

"Tony doesn’t answer! We separated to take down Sakeer patrols. He doesn’t answer.” Bucky’s voice wavers at the end.

Steve curses and Tony almost smiles.

"Tony!” Bucky tries again, there’s fear in his voice and Tony wills himself to answer.

"I’m fine.” His voice is strangely hoarse when he says it. He stretches his hands behind his back, then squats and freezes in a crouch, he takes his face in his hands. When he looks up to the sky, drops of water hit his face. His heart finds it’s resolve and he smiles.

~~**~~

When Bucky hears Tony’s voice he almost crumples to the ground with relief. Tony tells him where he is and Bucky doesn’t waste any time, he leaves the 5 bodies behind not even looking back. Dugan catches up to him and they run to meet with Tony. They don’t bother with secrecy. They took out the patrols surrounding the area, so it’s relatively safe.

They round a building and Bucky almost stumbles on a body there. The man’s throat is slitten and Bucky looks up the wound, it’s clean and goes over the major artery in the neck. The cut is professional and then he realizes that Tony must’ve been the one to do this. He gulps at the revelation, he knew Tony never killed before, but still, he has the knowledge to do so. The dorky smile flashes through his mind and then he remembers the look on Tony’s face when he was beating Rumlow. It’s hard to believe that those two expressions belong to the same person. It’s easy to underestimate Tony when he’s so small and adorable, but the look can be deceiving, and Bucky suspects that Tony might be the most dangerous person he will ever meet.

They find him crouching over a body, face up, letting the rain wash it over. His eyes are closed, hairs stuck to the skin and a troubled but content smile on his lips. Bucky heart squeezes up because the scene is heartbreaking. HYDRA deserved that, he thinks, but the man before him never did that, never killed another person. Bucky fears for a second that it broke him, that young man that belongs to high society, to parties and comforts and safety. Not here surrounded by bodies, with blood running down his cheek.

Even Dugan tenses up beside him, when Tony looks at them, Bucky gulps. He’s not sure what he was expecting to see in Tony’s expressive eyes. The steel in his look is unnerving, there’s resolve there laced with resignation. Bucky feels like someone hit his head with a hammer or something.

He walks up to him in some sort of trance. He treads carefully, afraid he will scare Tony like some kind of frightened animal. Tony looks down at his hands and stands up. His words stop Bucky’s hand from reaching him.

"Don’t worry, I’m fine now.”

Bucky’s hand falls to the side and he lets out a ragged breath. Dugan though doesn’t have any reservation.

He takes Tony’s small frame into his arms and squeezes. Tony lets out a surprised noise at the action and tenses up but after a second or two he practically melts. "’m fine, really.” His voice is muffled by Dum Dum clothes.

"It’s alright kiddo, you did well. You’re one of us now.”

Tony chuckles when Dugan releases him from the hug. "Nothing like a baptism by fire, eh?”

Dugan chuckles, too and before Bucky can blink the both of them are laughing. Tonys laugh is light like some weight was lifted from his shoulders and Dum Dum is… well, his usual self.

Bucky stands there, a complicated swirl of emotion in his stomach making his head spin for a moment.

He knew that Dugan words carried a lot more weight than meets the eye at first. Because it’s one thing to enlist into the army and another to go into the battle and survive. Tony was a soldier, their brother in arms but others would still look down on him, Bucky looks to the body on the ground, not anymore.

Bucky clears his throat. "We should go.” He reports to Steve as they make their way across the area. He gets a feeling that they should go where the big energetic tower is. Tony follows him closely, his steps sure and it eases Bucky’s worry a little.

They go through side streets, small and forgotten ones. He forces the pace, they need to find the base, take what they came here for and finish the mission.

~~**~~

Bucky runs along the wall and crouches when he hears voices over the rain. He sees two small trucks and some cargo on the ground. Supplies, maybe? He checks the rooftops and notes one man on one of them, machine gun hanging loosely from his shoulder. He turns to Dugan and Tony and signs them to run to the building not far from the one, with a guard on the rooftop. They need to take care of him. Tony nods and Dum Dum flexes his legs.

They run to the building, Thunderball rolling through the sky is their cover, silent accomplice. They reach the wall and climb the ladder to the rooftop and quickly crouch to the wall of the taller building. Bucky looks over the edge, there’s one man standing, his back facing them. They’ll need to take him down but before Bucky can do it, Tony catches the edge of the roof and pulls himself up. He quickly runs up to the unsuspecting man and jumps on his back. Tony takes his head into the headlock cutting the air from his throat, his hand covering his mouth. He squeezes his arms and the man falls back right on Tony but the man doesn’t seem to care, he shoves the body to the side and crouches down looking over the people below. It’s all tensed muscles and graceful arch of his back, he looks like a cat waiting to strike. Bucky is mesmerized by it, it’s wrong, he knows it’s wrong, seeing Tony in this setting. He shouldn’t be there, he doesn’t belong in the war but on the other hand it feels strangely right.

Tony eventually stands up and looks over to them, so they pull themselves on the rooftop, too. Bucky tries not to think about it, not now.

They run on the footbridge linking it with another building. They avoid most of the patrols and the ones they can’t they eliminate.

Bucky turns to the left and hides in the small house, Tony, and Dugan after him. There’s a buzz in the comms and Tony tenses, then he takes something from the pocket on the side of his pants.

Bucky’s not sure what it is, it must be some kind of device, flat and black not bigger than a palm. It comes to life and Bucky blinks a few times.

"What is it?”

Tony looks briefly at him before his eyes fall back on the screen. "Tablet.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, "because it tells me much.”

Tony blinks at him and scratches his neck sheepishly, dark blush coloring the tips of his ears. "Sorry, it’s portable computer, basically.”

Some data shows up on the screen and catches Tony’s attention, "oh.” He grins when he looks up.

Bucky moves closer to him, so does Dum Dum. "What?”

Bucky wonders how smart Tony really is. What is the extent of his intelligence and it’s scary to think about even more than thinking about what he can do in combat. If only HYDRA knew what he’s capable of and then Bucky feels cold running over his body at the thought. Because if they knew, Tony would be in danger, they would try to make him their weapon. He feels sick at the thought. Not Tony, not him.

Tony cuts his line of thought. "My babies hooked to that big energetic tower half a mile away.”

"So?” Dugan asks.

"I was right, the base is underground. The building beside the tower is a fake base of Sakeer and his peers, a….” Tony’s eyes crinkle with amusement, "a ‘beard’, so to speak, to the real thing.”

"Anyway my mosquitos can now look for an entrance and scout the area. Make a digital map of the base below our feet. The only thing we can now is waiting for the rest to catch up to us. Then we can sneak in.”

Dugan scratches his chin. "What about security? Alarms?”

Tony grins from ear to ear. "What do you think?” He sounds almost cocky and Bucky’s hand itches to touch, he doesn’t.

Dugan just nods in answer.

They wait.


	7. Chapter 7

Once the rest of the team joins in, Tony shows them the map and Steve studies it for a long moment before he comes up with a plan. Tony puts his 5 cents there.

“I feel obligated to tell you this again, Cap but you should watch your back, ‘cause Tony has that leader streak in him,” Falsworth says with a smirk and Steve just rolls his eyes.

“Nah, I think Tony more suited for taking over the world.” He eventually replies, pointing a finger at Tony.

Tony snorts, “damn right, Cap.”

The rest of them grin and smile taking a short breather from the mission before they dive into things head first again.

They split once again going to the points of entry to the base Tony pointed earlier.

Bucky leads them to their point and Tony just follows obediently. He feels nauseous, he still can smell the blood mixed with dust, he glances at his hands and shuts his eyes for a second, just as he opens them Bucky turns to look at him. There’s crease on his forehead and Tony smiles at him brightly, despite his inner turmoil and mild breakdown. He receives a nod in return, and Tony thanks all the Gods he can think of for all the years he had to hid his feelings behind a fake smile. He also had to get it together since he was a Stark and Stark men are made of iron. It wasn’t time for a breakdown. He doesn’t even try to think how wrong it is to think so but he needs to be focused for his team.

They enter one of the houses and go straight to the wardrobe next to the wall on the far end of it. Dugan goes to move it and Bucky helps him to stabilize it. Tony watches them for a second before he steps up to the piece of furniture and opens the door and promptly gets inside, snickering at their bewildered faces.

There’s a hole in the back of the wardrobe leading to the next room and Bucky shots his hands in the air in exasperation, “you could tell us there’s a hole in this thing before we started moving this piece of crappy furniture!”

Tony shakes his head feeling a little bit better, “and where’s fun in that?”

Bucky sighs and digs the heel of his hands into his eyes murmuring, “unbelievable.”

Dum Dum laughs and pats him on the back almost sending him through the wardrobe to a freakin’ Narnia. “You wouldn’t have it any other way, though.” He wiggles his eyebrows and Bucky snorts in response.

“Are you coming here or what?!” Tony shouts, his hand clasped on the secret flap. The rug covering it moved to the wall.

Bucky blinks and Dum Dum is the first one to go through the hole in the wall, he gets himself stuck for a moment and Bucky almost burst out laughing.

Tony snickers. “Counting from today there’ll be only salads for you big guy.”

The laugh bubbles from Bucky’s throat before he could stop it. He stops short while later reminding himself they’re on a very important mission. He comes into the room and soon enough all of them are going down the stairs.

There’s a room at the end of it and two guys lying unconscious or possibly dead on the floor.

Bucky opens his mouth, “what the hell?”

Tony looks from under Bucky’s arm at the site and grins proudly.

“Ah, my babies took care of it.”

Dugan humms appreciatively. “Those mosquitos, sure as hell makes things a helluva lot easier.”

Tony puffs his chest out a little before he stops himself and ducks his head embarrassed.

They don’t waste any more time and go straight for the door behind two guys. Tony pulls out his tablet thing and goes through a video feed.

“Well, we need to get in the control room. I’ll be able to access their main servers from there but we need to go there undetected and take the people in there first otherwise if they know something’s wrong we’re busted and the data is gone. Once we’re taken care of them the rest can make as much ruckus as they want for the distraction purposes.” Tony says, scratching his chin in thought.

Bucky nods his head studying the map, pointing at the control room, which wasn’t so far away from their positions. “We need to get there but the corridors are full of Sakeer’s men,” he looks at the room in the next corridor, something catches his eye, “is that ventilation shaft?” He points at a small thing on the map.

Tony squints, “Yes I think so.” He treads his finger on the thin line and with surprise, he nods that it leads straight to the control room.

Dugan looks at Bucky and nods to Tony and Bucky sighs. “Unfortunately you’re the only one who could squeeze there and that means that we’ll have to split up and you’ll be on your own.”

Tony wants to bark something at Bucky for calling him small even if he didn’t say so but he knew Bucky’s right.

“It also means that you’ll have to take out the guys in the room by yourself and do it before they have a chance to call for back up,” Dugan says, glancing at Bucky. He notes the tension in his shoulders and he understands because he doesn’t like the idea much either.

Tony mulls it over, looking over the plans and then switching to the camera in the control room. He counts 5 people there and instantly does the math in his head.

Bucky worries his lip. “I don’t like the odds, though.”

They stand in the silence for a moment until Tony shrugs. “Count it 3 against one.”

Dugan blinks at him and Bucky frowns. Tony just rolls his eyes, apparently, it’s a given being part of this team. Someone should have warned him beforehand that there’ll be an unhealthy amount of rolling eyes, seriously.

“I have two mosquitos that can take care of 2 of the 5 guys, add the element of surprise and boom we’ve got them.”

Bucky relaxes, “right I forgot about those deadly machines of yours.”

Tony looks at the bodies on the floor and raises his brow in question. Bucky rubs his nape sheepishly.

Dugan clasps a hand on Tony shoulders and winks at him. “Looks like we’ve got a plan.”

Tony grins at him willing his nervousness down locking it up for the moment. He will deal with it later.

They don’t wait any longer and go straight to the corridor, Bucky takes out the guy patrolling the area and drags him where the other two bodies are, he looks over Sakeer’s men with disdain, lip curling in a snarl. Dugan ushers him to move and he joins them.

Dum Dum looks over the corner and signs Bucky and Tony that there are two more guys, one moving and one standing by the door to a room next to the one they’re targeting. Bucky nods his head and takes out a knife from his boot which warrants him a raised brow from Tony.

Dugan moves to make space for Bucky and he goes to take up the position. He glances at the corridor and once the guy that’s moving has his back to them he throws his knife at the one by the door, successfully striking him in the artery. Just as the knife lodges itself in the neck of their enemy Tony bolts from his spot and jumps at the other man, taking him out in a swift motion. When he looks up at them Dugan sighs heavily. “I want to have a little bit fun, too.”

Bucky grins, “Don’t whine,” he looks at the bodies, pointing finger at them, “be useful and go hide, those.”

Dugan shrugs but does it anyway.

A few seconds later and they’re in the room with the vent. The room is empty, completely. There are no signs that it was used for anything. Barren walls and dusty floor, perfect.

Tony eyes the vent and mentally prepares himself. Just as he’s about to wiggle himself in, Steve’s voice comes through the comms.

“Are you in positions?”

“Yes, Tony about to sneak into the control room through the vents. Once he’s there we can relieve word from few HYDRA goons.”

Steve humms. “I’m waiting for your sign then.”

“Roger that,” Bucky says and somehow it makes Tony laugh.

Steve sighs on the other side of the comms. It’s the sigh that Tony started to identify as ‘I’m surrounded by children’ one.

Bucky shakes his head in amusement still eyeing Tony like he was some skittish animal and that’s the last thing Tony wants but still, he feels kind of warm at the thought that Bucky’s worried about him.

“All right. You know what you have to do Tony.” Bucky says curling his hand on Tony’s shoulder. They stare at each other for a moment. Tony likes the feel of Bucky’s hand on him, it makes him feel safe. The moment is broken by Dum Dum clearing his throat. Tony steps back already missing the support Bucky’s hand provided.

Tony breaths in and out a few times trying to focus his mind on the present task. He never in his life would have guessed that he would end up in this position, the thought that his father would send his only son into the army was unfathomable for him for so many reasons but here he is anyway.

He readies himself and soon enough he’s in the vents, it’s narrow in here and for once in life, he’s happy for his smaller than average frame. He drags himself forward with some difficulty, he’s not claustrophobic but the heat and the feel of walls closing up on him are pretty much close to making him break a nerve. He tightens his hand in a fists trying to calm himself, it helps and he’s moving forward. He’s over the control room in a matter of few minutes. It felt like a few hours, though.

He observes the people right below, three of them standing right by the consoles and big screens splattered on the wall and the two under the vent. He takes out a knife and gets in position to kick his way down. He counts to three and springs free his tiny killer machines. He’s in the room a second later just as the bodies hit the floor. The three HYDRA turn around, the one on the left strives for the gun strapped to his hip but he’s too late, the knife slicing right through his throat. Tony doesn’t give the other two any chances he spins and sweeps the guy in front of him of his feet, grabbing him by his neck midair and snapping it. Not wasting any time he lunges at other one and soon enough he makes himself at home by the console.

“I’m in, the goons are taken care of. I’m starting to download the data now.” He says into the comm. He pretends not to hear the collective relieved sighs on the other side.

It’s like a dam was open because he can hear Dum Dum and Bucky making their way in here and the evident noises of a fight. He grins and scans the data, one file particularly catching his attention, it’s heavily encrypted and Tony’s fingers itch to decrypt it now but he knows that they have no time for it at the moment, so he sends the file onto one of his servers along with other ones. For now, he scans the files that the men were working on before Tony appeared.

He reads some of the files and wrinkles his nose in disgust and sheer horror. He knew about the experimentation but this? This was stuff made of nightmares and he felt sick to the stomach because most of the subjects for HYDRA human experiments were kids. That was all kinds of wrong.

He’s so focused on the data that when Bucky and Dugan barge in he jumps into the air, hand on his gun and eyes wild.

Bucky eyes widen and he puts his hands in the air, “whoa, easy there, it’s just us.”

Tony breaths out heavily and sits in the chair nodding to the screens, “I need 5 minutes and we’re ready to go.”

Bucky nods and goes up to him glancing at the body with a knife poking out from his throat, he raises an eyebrow at that, Tony shrugs innocently, “you’re not the only one who’s good at playing with knives, soldier.”

Bucky smiles at him before he turns to the screens. He pales and then his gaze sharpens, Tony knows perfectly what’s the cause of this. He doesn’t comment on this and neither does Dugan.

They’re maybe 3 minutes in when the screens glow red and Tony curses under his breath, he knew 5 minutes is too long to ask.

“What’s going on?” Dugan asks looking at the screens warily.

“They shutting us down,” Tony replies through gritted teeth.

Bucky stands behind him, hot breath on his neck, “can’t you do something?”

Tony shakes his head, “they shutting down the servers and the data is wiped clean as we speak.” Looks like their job here is done. “We should get out of here.”

They up and about but then there’s a grenade in the room and the next thing Tony knows is that Bucky takes him by the scruff of his uniform and lunges them to the exit. The explosion sends them flying into the corridor where they’re promptly attacked. Tony’s legs feel wobbly and there’s ringing in his ears but when someone tries to cuff him in the head his instincts kick in and he springs into action. His unsteady on his feet but he takes few of the HYDRA down that is until he's sent flying into a wall by a big guy, bigger than Dum Dum himself and that’s says something. His lungs protests when he wants to breathe and he’s sure that he’s going to die here when the Big guy advances at him only to be tackled down but no one else but Bucky himself. His eyes screamed bloody murder and Tony would smile if he could but it wasn’t possible at the moment. Bucky was strong and fast and deadly and Tony was sure that he’ll win this fight but the air in his lungs wasn’t enough and as his vision blurred and finally shut down completely he heard the desperate shout of his name falling from Bucky’s mouth.

~~*~~

“Tony!”

Tony gasps for air as he sits up abruptly. He starts coughing, his throat is dry as a sandpaper and his vision spins but he can breathe.

He glances at Bucky and notes the relieved quirk of his mouth. “What did I miss Buckaroo?” He asks still slightly wheezing, his eyes drop to the body of the guy who hurled him into a wall. The body was a mess. “Ouch.”

Bucky glances at the body and tips his head to the side in a 'he-hurt-you-so-I-maimed-his-ass' way and wow that’s another thing to think later when all of this is over.

“I really don’t want to interrupt you but we need to go out of here pronto.” Dugan prompts them to stand up.

Bucky nods and helps Tony up which he’s really thankful for. They run through corridors where they cross path with Morita and the rest. That’s when Tony hears the first explosion taking off, the ground shakes and Tony sways dangerously but Bucky has his hand around his waist so he doesn’t fall to the floor. There’s no time for a happy reunion, they run up the stairs right into a room of the building that is Sakeer's base. The building is huge but Tony memorized the plan of the building so he leads his team out.

They fight their way out, at some point they barrel into a war room only to find Sakeer dead. The next explosion hit and the walls around them start falling. Falsworth shouts something but Tony doesn’t hear what. They’re on the last corridor, the exit visible in the distance. Tony can hear his heartbeat, blood echoing in his ears just as they reach the exit another explosion hits and Tony with Bucky are send flying.

Tony feels heavy and short of breath, when he looks around everything is covered in dust, Bucky is nowhere in sight and Tony feels cold dread sipping in his stomach before he sees the mop of dark hair.

“Common Tony.” He urges heaving Tony to his feet once again but this time pain shoots through his knee and he sinks to his knees only to hiss in pain.

“Tony? Hey, Tony? What is it?”

“My knee, it hurts like a bitch.” He hisses and soon after he finds himself in a sort of fireman carry.

“Barnes!” He shouts out full of indignation but Bucky shakes his head and runs down the street. Dum Dum and the rest far ahead.

Tony tries to stop a wave of nausea which is a feat on itself while being carried like a sack of potatoes. He needs to find a purchase and finally, he puts his hand on Bucky’s ass to keep his balance.

“Tony!” Buck hisses and Tony laughs out, “what?” He feels delirious and tired and even so, there’s excitement burning under his skin.

“You know what!”

“Well in my defense I had to hold onto something.” He squeezes his hand around the flesh and Bucky slaps his ass in warning. Tony just grins, wiggling himself to have better purchase and points his gun at one of HYDRA goons.

“You’re insufferable, you know it?” Bucky shouts his voice barely heard over falling debris.

“Adaptable more like.” He chuckles as he shoots another two men. It’s not easy in this position and the bouncing doesn’t make things easy either. From somewhere on Tony’s right and Bucky’s left Jacques makes his presence known. Tony’s not sure where the hell Jacques came from but another pair of hands with a gun is highly appreciated.

Jacques laughs his heart out as he pats Bucky on his shoulder, the one Tony isn’t occupying and shouts as loud as he can to be heard over the explosions. “You’re both friggin indecent, you batshit crazy bastards!” Then he turns his head up and shoots one of the HYDRA hiding on the roof.

The walls are exploding around them, rubble flying over their heads and they laugh like they’re watching merely some fireworks.

Tony feels buzzed on the adrenaline, his knee hurts like hell but his focus is elsewhere.

They made it to the extraction point, somehow, Tony not sure how. He headshots another man attempting to attack them, he watches the body falling down, another explosion covering the sound of it hitting the ground.

They run to the car, the rest of the team already there. Bucky jumps up and Morita catches his arm to heave him up.

“Thanks,” Bucky shouts before he gently puts Tony on the floor when Gabe starts the engine and pulls forward.

They drive away leaving what was left of HYDRA base and some of them leave part of themselves that they never going to get back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to post it much earlier but things happened and I had to sort it out first and foremost. I have taken care of most of the things now so I can go back to writing more or less. I apologize for the wait, though, the time sure flies fast when you don't look at it.


End file.
